Constructed wetlands (CWs) have attracted increasing attention for the reduction of heavy metals and antibiotics in tailwaters of livestock and poultry effluents due to their stable and considerable purification efficiency, low costs, and minimal land consumption. However, the coadsorption behaviors and mechanisms of coexisting heavy metals and antibiotics in CWs remain unclear.
Researchers from the Wuhan Botanical Garden and the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the removal efficiency of heavy metals and antibiotics, as well as their migration characteristics and underlying interactions in CWs using small-scale CWs and laboratory dynamic adsorption experiments.
According to the researchers, the removal efficiency of