Microbial electrochemical-based constructed wetland technology for wastewater treatment: Reality, challenges, and future prospects

Constructed wetland (CW) is a nature-based wastewater treatment technology. It is highly efficient in removing most of the pollutants including chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), heavy metals, surfactants, and pharmaceuticals from the sewage and industrial effluents. CW is a sustainable and feasible wastewater treatment option in developing countries like India due to its simple design, construction using locally available materials, and low cost of operation and maintenance. The performance, particularly nutrients removal of the CW can be further improved by integrating it with the bioelectrochemical system (CW-BES). Generation of electricity from wastewater treatment is also possible using CW-BES. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the fundamentals of CW-BES and its applications in treating wastewater by covering the lab-, pilot- and full-scale studies. The challenges and limitations of this integrated technology for water treatment along with prospects are also discussed.