Coal gangue modified bioretention system for runoff pollutants removal and the biological characteristics

Huakang Zhang; Xiaoran Zhang; Junfeng Liu; Liming Zhang; Guodong Li; Ziyang Zhang; Yongwei Gong; Haiyan Li; Junqi Li

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115044

Coal gangue modified bioretention system for runoff pollutants removal and the biological characteristics

J Environ Manage. 2022 Jul 15:314:115044. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115044. Epub 2022 Apr 12.

Authors

Huakang Zhang¹, Xiaoran Zhang², Junfeng Liu³, Liming Zhang⁴, Guodong Li⁴, Ziyang Zhang⁵, Yongwei Gong¹, Haiyan Li⁶, Junqi Li⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Urban Stormwater System and Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, 102616, China.
² Key Laboratory of Urban Stormwater System and Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, 102616, China; Beijing Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Urban Sewage System Construction and Risk Control, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, 100044, China. Electronic address: zhangxiaoran@bucea.edu.cn.
³ Department of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Beijing Vocational College of Agriculture, Beijing, 102442, China.
⁴ Shanxi Water Affairs Group Construction Investment Co., Ltd, Taiyuan, 030000, China.
⁵ Beijing Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Urban Sewage System Construction and Risk Control, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, 100044, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Urban Stormwater System and Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, 102616, China; Beijing Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Urban Sewage System Construction and Risk Control, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, 100044, China.

PMID: 35427943
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115044

Abstract

In this study, coal gangue (CG) was applied as media in bioretention system to remove runoff pollutant. CG modified bioretention systems show good removal efficiency towards runoff pollutant due to the high adsorption capacity of CG. The removal of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), ammonia (NH₄⁺-N) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) by CG modified bioretention systems was influenced by diverse rainfall conditions including rainfall concentration, recurrence period and drying period, and their removal rate ranged 94-99%, 30-70%, 83-97% and 33-86%, respectively. The effluent concentration of Zn, Pb and Cu was as low as 3.14-10.99 μg/L, 0.66-2.56 μg/L and 0.60-3.15 μg/L, respectively. In addition, CG could promote the plant heavy metal uptake and thus decrease their accumulation in soil to a certain extent. Meanwhile, Malondialdehyde (MDA) content and peroxidases (POD) activities of plants in CG modified bioretention were lower than that in tradition bioretention, indicating that CG could help plants recovery and lessened the oxidative stress for the negative impact of high heavy metals accumulation. CG-based media alleviated the inhibitory effect of rainwater runoff pollutant accumulation (especially heavy metals) on microbial diversity and the enhancement of the dominant bacteria (such as Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota) could conduce the nutrients removal in the bioretention systems. In overall, this study demonstrated that the CG modified bioretention systems show an excellent removal performance combine with biological effects.

Keywords: Bioretention; Coal gangue; Microbial community; Plant interaction; Rainfall characteristics.

MeSH terms

Coal
Environmental Pollutants*
Metals, Heavy*
Phosphorus
Rain
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Coal
Environmental Pollutants
Metals, Heavy
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Phosphorus