Constructed Wetlands for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

14Cork Boiling Wastewater Treatment in Pilot Constructed Wetlands

Arlindo C. Gomes¹, Alexandros I. Stefanakis^2,3,4, António Albuquerque¹ and Rogério Simões¹

¹Universidade da Beira Interior, Materiais Fibrosos e Tecnologias Ambientais (FibEnTech-UBI), Rua Marquês d'Ávila e Bolama, Covilhã, Portugal

²Bauer Resources GmbH, BAUER-Strasse 1, Schrobenhausen, Germany

³Department of Engineering, German University of Technology in Oman, Athaibah, Oman

⁴Bauer Nimr LLC, Muscat, Oman

14.1 Introduction

14.1.1 Cork Production and Manufacture

Cork is the natural and renewable material extracted from the out bark of the producer tree (Quercus suber L.) by traditional procedures after growth cycles of nine years, from trees older than 20 years. This activity is strictly regulated and intends to ensure a lifespan production over 200 years and ultimately contribute to the preservation of these natural forest ecosystems, typical of the Mediterranean region. Apart from cork production, these forests are also characterized by their high level of biodiversity, their contribution to hydrology regulation, prevention of desertification and carbon dioxide fixing (18 kg per kg of cork extracted) [1]. Thus, cork production is a model of sustainability between human activity and natural resources preservation [2–4]. Moreover, since 1993 the ecological importance of cork oak forests was also taken into account by the European Union and they were classified as protected habitats under the framework of the Natura 2000 ...