Steel Slag Filters to Upgrade Phosphorus Removal in Constructed Wetlands: Two Years of Field Experiments

Electric arc furnace steel slag (EAF-slag) and basic oxygen furnace steel slag (BOF-slag) were used as filter substrates in two horizontal subsurface flow filters (6 m(3) each) designed to remove phosphorus (P) from the effluent of a constructed wetland. The influences of slag composition, void hydraulic retention time (HRTv), temperature, and wastewater quality on treatment performances were studied. Over a period of almost two years of operation, the filter filled with EAF-slag removed 37% of the inlet total P, whereas the filter filled with BOF-slag removed 62% of the inlet total P. P removal occurred predominantly via CaO-slag dissolution followed by Ca phosphate precipitation. P removal efficiencies improved with increasing temperature and HRTv, most probably because this affected the rates of CaO-slag dissolution and Ca phosphate precipitation. It was observed that long HRTv (>3 days) can cause high pH in the effluents (>9) as a result of excessive CaO-slag dissolution. However, at shorter HRTv (1-2 days), pH values were elevated only during the first five weeks and then stabilized below a pH of 9. The kinetics of P removal were investigated employing a first-order equation, and a model for filter design was proposed.