An innovative reuse of bottom ash from municipal solid waste incinerators as substrates of constructed wetlands.

The incineration of municipal solid waste has been important in waste management, but it raises another environmental issue concerning residue treatment. This study describes an innovative use of naturally aged incineration bottom ash (AIBA) as an alternative substrate for horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) constructed wetlands (CW). Although experimental results from a period lasting for 396 days only revealed slightly higher removal ratios in HSSF with AIBA (HSSF-E) than in HSSF-traditional pebble beds (HSSF-C), increasing from 67% to 76% for BOD, 44%-51% for TKN, 47%-54% for NH-N, and 44%-52% for TN.