Abstract—This study evaluates the effectiveness of Constructed Wetlands with Forced Flotation (CWFF) for enhancing phytoremediation in wastewater treatment. The innovative CWFF design eliminates granular support media and utilizes a floating rhizosphere of Typha latifolia, facilitating direct interaction between contaminants and plant roots, thereby improving pollutant removal, degradation, and volatilization. Experiments were conducted under continuous flow conditions using both synthetic municipal wastewater (Chemical Oxygen Demand of 538 mg O2/L) and high-strength industrial wastewater from a dairy industry (Chemical Oxygen Demand of 8,236 mg O2/L). The CWFF system achieved significant removal efficiencies, including up to 99.77% reduction in Chemical Oxygen Demand and 99.64% reduction in Biochemical Oxygen Demand for industrial wastewater. The integration of aerobic, anoxic, and anaerobic zones facilitated comprehensive contaminant degradation, whereas the absence of granular substrates prevented clogging issues commonly found in traditional wetlands. These results highlight the high treatment capacity and operational flexibility of CWFF, showing its potential as a scalable and sustainable solution for addressing modern environmental challenges in wastewater management.
Keywords—industrial wastewater, macrophytes, organic pollution, continuous flow
Cite: Ricardo Enrique Macias-Jamaica, Edgar Omar Castrejón-González, Vicente Rico-Ramírez, Ximena Guillén-Almaraz, Cassandra Maldonado-Pedroza, and Martha Paulina Rodríguez-Peña, "Wastewater Treatment Using Constructed Wetlands with Forced Flotation: Enhancing Phytoremediation through a Floating Typha latifolia Rhizosphere," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 136-145, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).