Petra Odette Abi and Chong, Harry Lye Hin (2025) Performance comparison of gravel- and oil palm shell-based constructed wetland mesocosms for copper, zinc and lead removal. Transactions on Science and Technology, 12. pp. 1-9.
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Abstract
Heavy metal pollution in aquatic environment usually happens at low concentration. Current heavy metal removal technologies have high operational costs. Subsurface flow constructed wetland is a potential solution as it is a lowcost ecotechnology. The high production of underutilized oil palm shell in Malaysia poses a potential as an alternative media for constructed wetland in heavy metal removal. This study aimed to compare the feasibility of oil palm shells as alternative media to gravel in mesocosm-scale constructed wetland for the removal of copper, zinc and lead. All oil palm shell- and gravel-based mesocosm units, unplanted and planted with Typha angustifolia, were spiked with synthetic wastewater under batch drain-and-fill mode and operated at three days hydraulic retention time for 180 days. The removal of lead in both oil palm shell- and gravel-based mesocosms were consistently near 100%. Copper and zinc removals in the oil palm shellbased mesocosms were ranging at 93.11 - 100% and 97.75 - 100%, respectively. Whereas copper removal in the gravelbased mesocosms ranged at 92.13 - 99.98%. Although pH in the planted gravel-based mesocosm was near neutral (pH 6.47 - 7.43), plant presence reduced zinc removal from 99.93% (Day 228) to 66.37% (Day 405) in the gravel-based mesocosm. Higher removal of sulphate in the oil palm shell-based mesocosms suggested the occurrence of metal sulphideprecipitation. Oil palm shell-based mesocosms performed better than gravel-based mesocosms, both in unplanted and planted conditions. Further studies need to be done on the changes of media’s physicochemical properties after experiment as well as copper, zinc and lead mass balance to understand better the removal pathway of copper, zinc and lead in all the mesocosms.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword: | Oil palm shell, Constructed wetland, Heavy metal, Typha angustifolia, Wastewater treatment |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QE Geology > QE1-996.5 Geology > QE1-350.62 General Including geographical divisions Q Science > QH Natural history > QH1-278.5 Natural history (General) > QH1-(199.5) General Including nature conservation, geographical distribution |
| Department: | FACULTY > Faculty of Science and Natural Resources |
| Depositing User: | SITI AZIZAH BINTI IDRIS - |
| Date Deposited: | 02 May 2025 10:58 |
| Last Modified: | 02 May 2025 10:58 |
| URI: | https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/43692 |
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