World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020
Effect of Biochar on Metals and Nutrient Removal in Bioretention Systems
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020: Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater and Water Desalination and Reuse
ABSTRACT
This study investigated whether amending the bioretention soil mix with biochar improves the reduction of copper, zinc, nitrate, ammonia, and phosphate from stormwater. Four vegetated test planters were setup for this experiment: one control with the bioretention soil mix, one control with the components of the bioretention soil mix (compost and loamy sand) in layers, one with biochar mixed with the bioretention soil mix, and one with layers of compost, biochar, and loamy sand. Five tests were conducted with stormwater collected from a nearby industrial site, and influent and effluent were analyzed for copper, zinc, total nitrogen, nitrate, ammonia, total phosphorus, and phosphate. The results show that copper and zinc removal was inconsistent in the mixed and layered setups. Removal varied significantly between tests and did not appear to be impacted by biochar. Nutrient removal was also inconsistent, with varying removal rates between tests for the control and biochar planters. Layering of bioretention soil components appeared to slightly improve removal during some of the tests, but differences were not statistically significant over all 5 tests. This study showed that removal of stormwater contaminants in bioretention systems did not significantly improve with the addition of biochar.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Oregon Community Foundation provided funding to complete this study. Thank you to Vigor Industrial for allowing us to collect stormwater at their facility, and Sunmark Environmental for donating the biochar. We would also like to thank Natalie Muth for her help with sampling.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020: Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater and Water Desalination and Reuse
Pages: 73 - 83
Editors: Sajjad Ahmad, Ph.D., and Regan Murray, Ph.D.
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8298-8
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: May 14, 2020
Published in print: May 14, 2020
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