ReviewConstructed wetlands for treatment of industrial wastewaters: A review

- Constructed wetlands have been used for many types of industrial effluents.
- For industrial effluents all types of constructed wetlands are used.
- Results from 138 applications in 33 countries are reported in the paper.

Constructed wetlands have been used for wastewater treatment for more than fifty years. Most applications have been designed to treat municipal or domestic wastewater but at present, constructed wetlands are successfully applied to many types of wastewater. The early constructed wetlands applied to industrial wastewaters included those for wastewaters from petrochemical, abattoir, meat processing, dairy and pulp and paper industries. During the 1990s constructed wetlands were also used to treat effluents from textile and wine industries or water from recirculating fish and shrimp aquacultures. The most recent applications include those for brewery or tannery wastewaters as well as olive mills effluents. The survey revealed that both subsurface and surface flow constructed wetlands have been used for treatment of industrial wastewaters. Within subsurface flow constructed wetlands both horizontal and vertical flow systems have been designed. Also, the use of various hybrid constructed wetlands for industrial effluent treatment has been reported in the literature recently. The survey also revealed that industrial wastewaters are treated in constructed wetlands in all continents and this paper includes the information from 138 constructed wetlands in 33 countries worldwide.