Nitrous oxide emissions from surface flow and subsurface flow constructed wetland microcosms: Effect of feeding strategies

The effects of continuous and intermittent feeding strategies on nitrogen removal and N2O emission from surface flow and subsurface flow constructed wetlands were evaluated in this study. Microcosm wetlands planted with Phragmites australis were constructed and operated with different feeding strategies for the 4-month experiment. Results showed the intermittent feeding strategy could enhance the removal of ammonium effectively in the subsurface flow constructed wetlands, although it had no significant effect for the surface flow wetlands. And the intermittent feeding mode could promote the emission of N2O. The amount of N2O–N emission from the subsurface flow constructed wetlands with intermittent feeding mode was about 5 times higher than that with continuous feeding strategy and the emission rate ranged from 0.09 ± 0.03 to 7.33 ± 1.49 mg/m2/h. Compared with the surface flow constructed wetlands, the N2O emission in the subsurface flow constructed wetlands was affected significantly by the intermittent feeding mode.