Behaviour of physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of vertical flow constructed wetland substrate after treating a mixture of urban and olive mill wastewaters.

The aim of the current work is to evaluate the effect of a mixture of olive mill wastewater (OMWW) and urban wastewater (UW) on constructed wetland (CW) substrate physicochemical parameters, and to study the abundance and behaviour of microbial community at different depths. In this regard, substrate samples were investigated at three depth levels (0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm) inside a pilot scale CW treating the mixture. In order to compare the obtained results with the conventional case, a control (CW pilot plant treating only UW) was implemented. Result shows that an increase in electrical conductivity (from 0.134 to 0.222 mS/cm in 0-10 cm and from 0.131 to 0.283 mS/cm in 10-20 cm), total dissolved salts (from 65.45 to 108.67 mg/kg in 0-10cm and from 64.33 to 135.3 mg/kg in 10-20 cm), total organic carbon (from 0.86 to 6.84%), total nitrogen (from 0.1 mg/kg to 0.45, 0.43 and 0.41 mg/kg, in 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm respectively) and C/N ratio take place in the substrate after the treatment of the mixture. As for the microbiological parameters, treating the mixture in a CW results in an increase in the yeast and fungi which may optimize the biodegradation of compounds such as polyphenols that are non-easily degraded.

Extraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Biphenyls from Urban and Olive Mill Wastewaters Intended for Reuse in Agricultural Irrigation.

BACKGROUND: Domestic and industrial wastewater can be introduced in a reuse chain for irrigation purposes. OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we developed analytical procedures for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) along a wastewater reuse chain for irrigation purposes. Besides urban wastewaters, olive mill wastewater (OMWW) was considered as a potential water source. Wastewaters were purified by different treatments (urban wastewater plants, pilot-activated sludge, and constructed wetland) and used for the irrigation of olive trees. Suitable extraction procedures were used to analyze treated and untreated wastewaters, soils, and postirrigation leachates. RESULTS: For wastewater and leachate samples, the optimized reverse-phase solid-phase extraction (SPE) provided recoveries up to 79%. For OMWW, the SPE procedure was preceded by a normal-phase purification stage with silica gel for the removal of polyphenols, which were as high as 8.7 g/L. After optimization, extraction recoveries in blank solutions were in the range 20-67% and moderately reduced (10-38%) in OMWW as a result of the matrix effect (ME; -10/-60%) ascribed to the very high value of chemical oxygen demand (264 g/L). LODs of the method were below 1.1 µg/L (PAHs) and 3.2 µg/L (PCBs) using GC-MS analysis. For soil samples of different compositions, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) provided better extraction recoveries and reproducibility than the more common quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe approach, which was affected by a high ME. The LODs of the MAE/GC-MS method were below 4.9 µg/kg (PAHs) and 12.3 µg/kg (PCBs). CONCLUSIONS: The analytical procedures developed are a valuable tool to quantify the possible propagation of residual contamination from PAHs/PCBs with irrigation along the wastewater reuse chain.