Ismael Leonardo Vera-Puerto- Civil Engineer, Master in Hydrosystems, PhD in Environmental Sciences
- Full Professor at Universidad Católica del Maule
Ismael Leonardo Vera-Puerto
- Civil Engineer, Master in Hydrosystems, PhD in Environmental Sciences
- Full Professor at Universidad Católica del Maule
Associate Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Católica del Maule (Chile)
About
51
Publications
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Introduction
My research is focus on wastewater treatment by nature based solutions and resources recovery during the treatment. In addition, our research group has different research areas such as sustainability, climatology, hydrology, membrane separation and coastal modelling
Current institution
Additional affiliations
July 2016 - July 2019
Position
- Professor Assistant
Description
- Head of Civil Engineering Department (2018-2020)
August 2019 - March 2025
Position
- Professor (Associate)
Description
- Dean (i) (january-may, 2020); Head of Civil Engineering School (jan-may, 2022)
July 2013 - June 2015
Editor roles
Education
March 2008 - December 2012
July 2004 - September 2007
March 1999 - April 2004
Publications
Publications (51)
Purpose
Develop a conceptual model for the training of Chilean engineers in the construction field that considers the facultative symbiosis between sustainable construction (SC) and nature-based solutions (NBS).
Design/methodology/approach
This study aims to develop conceptual model for the training of Chilean engineers in the construction field t...
Este documento es resultado del proyecto FSEQ210015: “Humedales
depuradores para mitigar la escasez hídrica en Chile; Soluciones
Basadas en la Naturaleza como herramienta de innovación para el
tratamiento, la recuperación y la reutilización de aguas residuales”.
Financiado a través del fondo de investigación estratégica en sequía del
Ministeri...
El propósito central del presente documento es la creación de un manual que entregue descripción y directrices para la aplicación de distintos modelos de participación social, para orientar este tipo de involucramiento en proyectos sociales y de inversión en Chile, enfocados en el bienestar socioambiental donde se planee el uso de soluciones basada...
The objective of this study was to design a university-level course focused on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for water pollution control. The work unfolded in three phases: the initial planning, course delivery, and assessment of learning outcomes. In the planning phase, a set of competencies was outlined using the Developing a Curriculum Method (DA...
This study comparatively evaluated effluent reuse from two TWs—a horizontal subsurface flow (HF) and a vertical subsurface flow (VF)—used for rural wastewater treatment in Central Chile during the initial operation stage. The two TWs were planted with Zantedeschia aethiopica and were operated for 10 months at a pilot scale. The water quality of the...
The present study presents the first attempt to demonstrate the online monitoring of components responsible for odor sensation from a constructed wetland (CW) utilized in treating combined sewer overflow (CSO). An experimental CSO treatment plant located in the south of Chile, employing a vertical flow (VF) CW, was monitored. The components respons...
This work aimed to evaluate the performance of modified vertical flow treatment wetlands (VF-TWs) in terms of depth and medium to assess the effect of the feeding/resting periods and footprint (FP). The modifications were proposed for treating domestic wastewater in rural areas with flow variations such as tourist sites. The experimental setup incl...
Actualmente hay 2.400 millones de personas sin saneamiento avanzando y 2.100 millones más, con saneamiento inadecuado (es decir, las aguas residuales drenan directamente a las aguas superficiales sin tratamiento) y, a pesar de las mejoras que han ocurrido en las últimas décadas, la gestión de descargas fecales y de aguas residuales siguen generando...
This research evaluated the oxygen transfer efficiency in beds to be used as aerated constructed wetlands. The research methods included oxygen transfer efficiency evaluations in several bed configurations using diffused aeration systems. Experiments were conducted at two locations with different environmental conditions: a) Talca (Chile), 120 m ab...
The Atacama Desert situated along the northern Chile is known as the driest desert in the world. For several years, the Research and Development Center in Water Resources (CIDERH), Arturo Prat University has been promoting applied research to encourage the use of wetlands for treating polluted waters in this unique environment and its communities....
As part of the effort to improve design and operation schemes of decentralized wastewater systems, the Danish EPA funded a research initiative, to re-evaluate the Danish guidelines for VFCW with an aim to improve its design. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the effect of recycling water from the effluent of the VFCW to the pump chamber...
Reclamation of treated wastewater is considered a viable option for reducing the agricultural and national water deficit, especially in Mediterranean-type and arid climatic conditions. Given that Chile is a country around 40% of whose territory is classified as semi-arid and desert and 20% as Mediterranean, with serious water scarcity problems, and...
El concepto de economía circular implica que las zonas rurales de Chile incrementen el tratamiento de sus aguas servidas con tecnologías sostenibles y reutilicen sus efluentes para tener una fuente de agua alternativa para riego. Así, este trabajo evaluó el potencial de reutilización en riego, de los efluentes a dos humedales construidos (HC) aplic...
This study’s aim is to generate a complete profile of reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC), including physicochemical characteristics, environmental impact, and technologies for ROC treatment, alongside element recovery with potential valorization. A systematic literature review was used to compile and analyze scientific information about ROC, and sys...
This work compares the performance of vertical subsurface flow treatment wetlands (VSSF TWs) for wastewater treatment, planted with Zantedeschia aethiopica (Za), here operated simultaneously under two different climate conditions, arid and Mediterranean. The experimental setup was divided into two treatment lines for each climate condition: three V...
The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance of vertical subsurface flow treatment wetlands (VSSF TWs) for treating rural domestic wastewater when strategies such as bed depth reduction and media change are used in combination with bottom saturation. Two treatment wetland systems were implemented: normal (VF-N), with a bed depth of 1.0 m, a...
Humedales para tratamiento es el séptimo volumen de la serie “Tratamiento biológico de aguas residuales” (en inglés “Biological Waste Water Treatment Series”), que provee una presentación de vanguardia sobre la ciencia y tecnología del tratamiento de aguas residuales. Los principales tipos de sistemas de humedales son tratados en este volumen, a sa...
HUMEDALES CONSTRUIDOS PARA LA RECUPERACIÓN DE HUMEDALES NATURALES EN CONTEXTOS URBANOS: Experiencias y Lecciones Aprendidas del Sistema Hídrico de Bogotá (Colombia)
The aim of this work is to evaluate the reuse of municipal wastewaters treated through subsurface constructed wetlands (SS-CWs) as irrigation water in cut flower aeroponic cultivation under arid conditions. For this purpose, two experimental aeroponic cultivation systems were installed with the cut flower Lilium ‘Tresor’ planted and irrigated with...
This study aims to evaluate the sorption characteristics of NH4+-N and PO43−-P onto the surface of natural zeolites coming from Chile and their potential application in the subsurface-flow treatment wetlands for wastewater treatment in rural areas. For this purpose, adsorption experiments onto the zeolite were developed in batch assays. The effects...
In the context of the impact of urbanization on climate change, this work aims to evaluate the sensitivity of the thermal and radiative properties of building surfaces in urban areas to the urban heat island intensity, a local scale meteorological phenomenon. For this, variations of albedo values, emissivity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity...
The objective of this research was to evaluate the fate of aromatic compounds and organic matter in pilot constructed wetlands (CW) treating Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus globulus sawmill industry leachate. Six lab-scale surface flow CW were built and fed in batches. Three CW were fed with P. radiata leachate, while the other three CW were fed with...
El propósito de este trabajo fue determinar la capacidad de eliminación de amonio (-N) mediante procesos de adsorción, empleando zeolita como material adsorbente, para proyectar su aplicación como soporte en sistemas de humedales construidos. Para esto se realizaron pruebas de adsorción a escala de laboratorio, interrelacionando dos cantidades de z...
This study aims to evaluate the evapotranspiration (EVP) rate of the willow species Salix humboldti-ana to be used as a plant species for evapotranspirative willow system (EWS) to treat domestic wastewater in highland climate conditions in Latin America. Twelve lysimeters were installed in Bogot a, Colombia (2,600 m.a.s.l.). Two parameters were eva...
In economic terms, Latin American countries (LACs) can be classified as “Upper or Lower-middle income countries” (World Bank, 2018). Regarding to sanitation data, only 20% of the municipal wastewater is treated (Hernández-Padilla et al., 2017). Therefore, the new treatment facilities in LACs should be shifting towards solutions, which are resource...
The role of the engineer in Sustainable Construction goes beyond the realization of construction projects (Valdes et al, 2018). Latin-American countries have to develop and implement new solutions in order to fill the gap of existing infrastructure for urban water management (Noyola et al., 2012). In this regard, the future of technology for urban...
This work aims to evaluate the cultivation of cut flowers irrigated with treated wastewater in a soilless cultivation technic such as aeroponics in arid climates. In addition, information about the state of water resources in the Atacama Desert, focusing on the wastewater management, is showed to explain the context where this study was developed....
The aim of this study was a comparison between PO 4 −3-P removal from sewage using zeolite as support medium in subsurface flow treatment wetlands (SSF TWs) operated with different oxidation-reduction potentials (ORPs). In addition, the zeolite's phosphate adsorption characteristics were evaluated. For this, Two mesocosm SSF TWs were installed and...
Chile is an agricultural power, but also one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and water shortage. About 50% of the irrigated agriculture land in Chile is in the central zone, thanks to its agricultural-climatic characteristics that provide an adequate water supply (100–4000 m³/s). However, the vulnerability scenario in this zone i...
Los humedales de tratamiento se han consolidado en las últimas décadas como una tecnología confiable y eficiente para el tratamiento de diversos tipos de aguas residuales. Su uso está ampliamente extendido en diversos países europeos y de america del norte, principalmente, en dónde se utiliza como tratamiento biológico secundario o terciario. Mient...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of ornamental plant species in mesocosm subsurface constructed wetlands (CWs) to treat sewage under different organic loading rates (OLRs). The effect of ornamental plant species was evaluated in four mesocosm CWs with: (a) Iris pseudacorus (MCW-Ip), (b) Eichornia crassipes (MCW-Ec), (c) Tulbagh...
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of intermittent artificial aeration cycles in hours per day and natural zeolite as a support medium, in addition to the contribution of plants (Schoenoplectus californicus) on NH4+-N removal during sewage treatment. Two parallel lines of a Mesocosm Constructed Wetland (MCW) were installed: a)...
This work aimed to analyze the wastewater treatment in Chile, as example of developing country, for discussing the participation and development of Constructed Wetlands (CW), addressing the current situation besides technical and regulatory challenges that allow increasing in their application, and water reuse of their effluents in irrigation activ...
Este trabajo tuvo por objetivo analizar el tratamiento de aguas servidas para Chile, como ejemplo de país en vía de desarrollo, discutiendo sobre la participación y desarrollo de los humedales construidos (HC), abordando la realidad actual, junto a los desafíos técnicos y normativos, que permitan un aumento de su aplicación, y la reutilización de e...
Este trabajo tuvo por objetivo evaluar la Arena (A), el Carbón Activado (CA) y la Zeolita (Z) como materiales filtrantes para valorar su efecto en reutilización para agricultura de aguas residuales tratadas de un ambiente árido. Para esto, se construyeron 7 columnas de filtración: a) columna 1, 100% de Z, b) columna 2, 100% de CA (origen A), c) col...
A constructed wetland (CW) in arid areas requires special knowledge given the particular climatic conditions. Among other aspects, the Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) and plant species may be two important design parameters in hyper- and super-arid areas. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate the influence of both variables in the application of CW...
Phosphorus (P) contained in sewage maybe removed by mesocosm-scale constructed wetlands (MCW), although removal efficiency is only between 20% and 60%. P removal can be enhanced by increasing wetland adsorption capacity using special media, like natural zeolite, operating under aerobic conditions (oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) above +300 mV)....
The Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) based on horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSS) achieved its full operation after two years of implantation. Removal efficiency of this WWTP is function of seasonality, type of species plant and maturity period of the system. The objective of this work is evaluating of the influence of season and...
The performance of 14 Full-Scale Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) was evaluated. STPs were divided into four aerobic technologies: a) Aerated Lagoon (AL), and three configurations of activated sludge technologies, b) conventional (CAS), c) Extended Aeration (EA), d) Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR). Comparison between these configurations were made reg...
In Catalonia (Spain), a variety of different systems have been built to naturally treat liquid residues from small communities. Some of these wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) include constructed wetlands with horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) as secondary treatment. The present study described and charac- terized the performance of 11 WWTPs with...
Se presentan las principales configuraciones de sistemas artificiales y construidos con sus respectivas características hidráulicas. Se describen los factores básicos y los mecanismos que inciden en la eliminación de nitrógeno. Se presentan resultados de eliminación de nutrientes, operados bajo distintos tipos de configuración de humedales construi...
Al inicio del proceso de calibración de un modelo de calidad del agua, empleando la herramienta computacional Qual2kw que incluye un algoritmo genético como herramienta matemática para calibración, es necesario introducir algunos operadores para el inicio del proceso de calibración que busca la mejor combinación de constantes que representen la rea...
Resumen: Los humedales artificiales de flujo subsuperficial son con-siderados una tecnología económica para tratar las aguas residuales urbanas y su potencial de aplicación al medio colombiano es muy intere-sante. En el presente artículo se presenta el funcionamiento en su etapa inicial de un humedal de este tipo, diseñado para servir a la Estación...
Swine slurry changes (animal physiological state, diet, housing and storage) and has high organic matter content, nutrients (N and P), solids, salts and pathogens. Usually, slurries are treated mixed (weaning to slaughtering) and they (treated and not treated) are used as soil stabilizer without knowing its content of nutrients and salts. In this w...
