Relevant aspects about design of constructed wetlands coupled to bioelectrochemical systems for wastewater treatment and energy generation

Abstract

The energy crisis, water scarcity and poor air quality are issues that must be addressed urgently in order to ensure the well-being of the population. The use of alternative technologies such as constructed wetlands (CW) allow the treatment of different wastewaters. When these technologies are coupled to bioelectrochemical systems (BES), the removal of the organic load can be optimized and electrical energy can be generated. Thus, the aim of this work was to perform an analysis of the advances, from 2010 to 2017, on the design of various configurations of CW systems coupled to BES. It was possible to identify the most important variables that determine the efficiency of removal of pollutants and current generation such as anodic and cathodic materials, area of electrodes, type of macrophytes and material organic removed. Likewise, the values of the organic material removed and the maximum power densities obtained with the three most used macrophytes are presented.