Online Monitoring of a Long-Term Full-Scale Constructed Wetland for the Treatment of Winery Wastewater in Italy

Characteristics and practical treatment technologies of winery wastewater: A review for wastewater management at small wineries

The wine-making industry drives tourism and rural revitalization in several countries. Meanwhile, winemaking generates wastewater at all production stages, mainly from cleaning of equipment, floors, vessels, and bottles. This review presents a comprehensive analysis with statistical characteristics on the overall quality and generation rate of winery wastewater since 2007, identifies the technologies used by wineries in pilot- and full-scale wastewater treatment systems, and offers insights on practical wastewater treatment at small wineries. The median wastewater generation rate has been reduced to 1.58 L/L-wine, with a weekly peaking factor of 1.6-3.4 and monthly peaking factor of 2.1-2.7. Winery wastewater is acidic and of high organic strength. The organic substances are largely biodegradable and constituent concentrations do not exceed 50% inhibitory levels for biological treatment. However, the small ratios of nitrogen and phosphorus to biochemical oxygen demand indicate substantial needs to supplement nutrients for aerobic biological treatment. The frequency of processes used to pretreat winery wastewater was in the order of sedimentation > coarse screening > equalization > neutralization. The most frequently reported treatment methods were constructed wetland, activated sludge process, membrane bioreactor, and anaerobic digestion. Advanced oxidation processes have been pilot tested for polishing. The best wastewater management practice at small wineries is physical pretreatment, followed by land-based treatment systems. Covered anaerobic lagoons and underground digesters are practicable anaerobic digestion designs to reduce organic loading to land-based treatment systems. Research is needed to develop sufficient design criteria for the best practicable treatment processes and compare land-based treatment systems at pilot and full scales.

Treatment wetlands and phyto-technologies for remediation of winery effluent: Challenges and opportunities

The composition and concentration of contaminants present in winery wastewater fluctuate through space and time, presenting a challenge for traditional remediation methods. Bio-hydrogeochemical engineered systems, such as treatment wetlands, have been demonstrated to effectively reduce contaminant loads prior to disposal or reuse of the effluent. This review identifies and details the status quo and challenges associated with (i) the characteristics of winery wastewater, and the (ii) functional components, (iii) operational parameters, and (iv) performance of treatment wetlands for remediation of winery effluent. Potential solutions to challenges associated with these aspects are presented, based on the latest literature. A particular emphasis has been placed on the phytoremediation of winery wastewater, and the rationale for selection of plant species for niche bioremediatory roles. This is attributed to previously reported low-to-negative removal percentages of persistent contaminants, such as salts and heavy metals that may be present in winery wastewater. A case for the inclusion of selected terrestrial halophytes in treatment wetlands and in areas irrigated using winery effluent is discussed. These are plant species that have an elevated ability to accumulate, cross-tolerate and potentially remove a range of persistent contaminants from winery effluent via various phytotechnologies (e.g., phytodesalination).

Materials in constructed wetlands for wastewater remediation: A review

The wastewater treatment industry is constantly evolving to abate emerging contaminants and to meet stringent legislative requirements. The existing technologies need to be modified, or new innovative treatment techniques need to be developed to ensure environmental protection and secure sustainability in the future. Emphasis is mainly on nutrient recovery, energy-efficient systems, zero waste generation, and environmentally friendly techniques. Constructed wetlands (CWs) have evolved as natural, eco-friendly, economical, and low-maintenance alternatives for wastewater remediation. These wetlands employ several materials as adsorbents for the treatment, commonly known as media/substrate. This review paper presents an assessment of various materials that can be used as substrates in CWs for the efficient removal of organic and non-biodegradable pollutants in different types of wastewaters. The effect of pH, mineral composition, specific surface area, and porosity of various natural materials and agricultural and industrial wastes used as media in CWs for wastewater remediation was discussed. The study showed that different substrates like alum sludge, limestone, coal slags, rice husk, and sand had removal efficiency for chemical oxygen demand (COD): 71.8%-82%, total phosphorous (TP): 77%-80%, and total nitrogen (TN): 52%-82% for different types of wastewaters. It also highlights the challenges related to the long-term sustainability of these materials. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Physicochemical characteristics influence the removal efficiency of the materials Life of media is also important along with removal efficiency and cost The sustainability of materials is very crucial for the overall performance of the system.

Criticality Analysis Based on Reliability and Failure Propagation Effect for a Complex Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater treatment is a critical and necessary task every human settlement is obligated to address. If not, the consequences might be catastrophic, not just for humans but for the ecosystems as well, pushing research into finding new ways to improve wastewater treatment processes to make them safer and more efficient. Hence, there is a need to address matters, such as reliability and maintainability of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP), when analyzing the availability and operational conditions. These should be addressed by analyzing the plant operational effectiveness impact (P-OEI), and in this article specifically, a WWTP study case to identify design flaws or improvement opportunities. A vital aspect of a complex system is to determine the contribution to resilience, reliability, and availability of every element embedded in the system. This is performed by adapting and applying the P-OEI methodology and real data of a WWTP located in Chile. This methodology breaks down the system into several levels of disaggregation similar to RBD methodology, analyzing the upstream for availability and the downstream for the P-OEI analysis from the system itself to the individual elements within subsystems. The potential impact on the overall system’s lack of efficiency is also quantified by an Expected Operational Impact (EOI) index, which is also calculated by the methodology. The P-OEI and EOI analyses performed in this study are powerful tools to assess the design and performance of complex systems and WWTP in particular.

The influence of the correlation-covariance structure of measurement errors over uncertainties propagation in online monitoring: application to environmental indicators in SUDS

This paper presents a methodology to assess the influence of the correlation-covariance structure of measurement errors in online monitoring over the propagation of uncertainties, applied to wet-weather environmental indicators in sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDSs). The effect of auto-correlated and heteroskedastic errors in measured time-series over the estimated probability density function (PDF) of different environmental indicators is analyzed for a wide variety of possible error structures in the data. For this purpose, multiple correlation-covariance structures are randomly generated from exploring the parametric space of a linear exponent autoregressive (LEAR) model, employing a Bayesian-based Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling technique. Significant differences tests are proposed to identify the most correlated parameters of the correlation-covariance error model with statistics of the environmental indicator PDFs. The method is applied to total suspended solids (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) time-series recorded during 13 rainfall events at the inlet and outlet of a SUDS train (stormwater settling tank-horizontal constructed wetland). In this case, results showed that the total error in the estimation of the analyzed environmental indicators is mostly explained by standard uncertainties (flattening of the PDFs) rather than bias contributions (displacement of the PDFs). The correlation-covariance model parameters related to the temporal delimitation of hydrographs/pollutographs and the intensity of the autocorrelation showed to have the strongest influence in the propagation of measurement errors (flattening/displacement of the PDFs).

The Kinetics of Manganese Sorption on Ukrainian Tuff and Basalt—Order and Diffusion Models Analysis

The study aimed to determine the nature of the kinetics of the manganese sorption process on Ukrainian tuff and basalt at different temperatures characteristic of the natural water environment. The scope of the research included manganese sorption kinetic test on natural mineral sorbents at temperatures of 10, 17.5 and 25 °C in slightly acidic conditions. Sorption (pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and Elovich models) and diffusion kinetic models (liquid film diffusion and intraparticle diffusion) were used in the analysis of test results. The manganese sorption process on both tuff and basalt proceeded quickly. The dynamic equilibrium state of manganese sorption settled after 35 and 45 min on tuff and basalt respectively. Although the process took place in a slightly acidic environment and below pHPZC of the sorbents, possible electrostatic repulsion did not inhibit the removal of Mn. The Mn sorption on both materials followed the PSO kinetics model. Based on the diffusion kinetic models, it was determined that Mn sorption process on both materials was influenced by diffusion through the boundary layer and intraparticle diffusion. The differences in removal efficiency and rate of Mn sorption in the temperature range of 10–25 °C were not found.

Application of Floating Aquatic Plants in Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals Polluted Water: A Review

Heavy-metal (HM) pollution is considered a leading source of environmental contamination. Heavy-metal pollution in ground water poses a serious threat to human health and the aquatic ecosystem. Conventional treatment technologies to remove the pollutants from wastewater are usually costly, time-consuming, environmentally destructive, and mostly inefficient. Phytoremediation is a cost-effective green emerging technology with long-lasting applicability. The selection of plant species is the most significant aspect for successful phytoremediation. Aquatic plants hold steep efficiency for the removal of organic and inorganic pollutants. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and Duck weed (Lemna minor) along with some other aquatic plants are prominent metal accumulator plants for the remediation of heavy-metal polluted water. The phytoremediation potential of the aquatic plant can be further enhanced by the application of innovative approaches in phytoremediation. A summarizing review regarding the use of aquatic plants in phytoremediation is gathered in order to present the broad applicability of phytoremediation.