Influence of intermittent wetting and drying conditions on heavy metal removal by stormwater biofilters
Abstract
Biofiltration is a technology to treat urban stormwater runoff, which conveys pollutants, including heavy metals. However, the variability of metals removal performance in biofiltration systems is as yet unknown. A laboratory study has been conducted with vegetated biofilter mesocosms, partly fitted with a submerged zone at the bottom of the filter combined with a carbon source. The biofilters were dosed with stormwater according to three different dry/wet schemes, to investigate the effect of intermittent wetting and drying conditions on metal removal. Provided that the biofilters received regular stormwater input, metal removal exceeded 95%. The highest metal accumulation occurs in the top layer of the filter media. However, after antecedent drying before a storm event exceeding 3-4 weeks the filters performed significantly worse, although metal removal still remained relatively high. Introducing a submerged zone into the filter improved the performance significantly after extended dry periods. In particular, copper removal in filters equipped with a submerged zone was increased by around 12% (alpha=0.05) both during wet and dry periods and for lead the negative effect of drying could completely be eliminated, with consistently low outflow concentrations even after long drying periods.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The filter material accounts for the majority of metal removal in stormwater bioretention systems.
“However, the filter material accounts for the majority of metal removal (Muthanna et al., 2007; Blecken et al., 2009, Blecken et al., 2011) and hence, filter material composition is crucial for achieving effective dissolved metal treatment.”
From Dissolved metal adsorption capacities and fractionation in filter materials for use in stormwater bioretention facilities (2019) · cites this paper as Blecken et al., 2009
LTU-TOP efficiently removed metals in pilot-scale bioretention facilities under various ambient conditions, despite showing very low adsorption capacities in the present study.
“Although it showed very low adsorption capacities in the present study (Fig. 2), LTU-TOP efficiently removed metals in pilot-scale bioretention facilities under various ambient conditions (e.g. Blecken et al., 2009; Blecken et al., 2011; Søberg et al., 2017).”
From Dissolved metal adsorption capacities and fractionation in filter materials for use in stormwater bioretention facilities (2019) · cites this paper as Blecken et al., 2009
The high percentages of potentially leachable fractions imply an obvious risk of adsorbed metals being desorbed by changes in the ionic composition of ambient water or development of oxidizing conditions, for instance during extended dry periods and/or after maintenance.
“The high percentages of potentially leachable fractions imply an obvious risk of adsorbed metals being desorbed by changes in the ionic composition of ambient water or development of oxidizing conditions (Tessier et al., 1979), for instance during extended dry periods (which have been shown to affect metal removal in bioretention; Blecken et al., 2009) and/or after maintenance (Karlsson et al., 20”
From Dissolved metal adsorption capacities and fractionation in filter materials for use in stormwater bioretention facilities (2019) · cites this paper as Blecken et al., 2009
After extended dry periods (promoting aeration and oxidation of the filter material), high metal concentrations in bioretention effluent have been detected.
“However, after extended dry periods (promoting aeration and oxidation of the filter material) high metal concentrations in bioretention effluent have been detected by Blecken et al. (2009).”
From Dissolved metal adsorption capacities and fractionation in filter materials for use in stormwater bioretention facilities (2019) · cites this paper as Blecken et al. (2009)
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Spahr, S., Teixidó, M., Sedlak, D. L., & Luthy, R. G. (2020) · Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology · doi:10.1039/c9ew00674e · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Spatial accumulation and strength of affiliation of heavy metals in bioretention media
Jones, P. S., & Davis, A. P. (2013) · Journal of Environmental Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)ee.1943-7870.0000624 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Søberg, L. C., Winston, R., Viklander, M., & Blecken, G.-T. (2019) · Water Research X · doi:10.1016/j.wroa.2019.100032 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“, 1979), for instance during extended dry periods (which have been shown to affect metal removal in bioretention; Blecken et al., 2009) and/or after maintenance (Karlsson”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citation
- Authors
- Blecken, G.-T., Zinger, Y., Deletić, A., Fletcher, T. D., & Viklander, M.
- Affiliations
- Luleå University of Technology (SE)
- Monash University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Blecken, Godecke-Tobias
- Venue
- Water Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-10
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 4590-4598
- ISSN
- 0043-1354 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2058054651
- Cited by
- 156
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 3.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Water Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Urban Stormwater Management Solutions
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Heavy metals in environment
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Heavy Metal Pollution Remediation
- Keywords
- stormwater biofilters, heavy metal removal, urban stormwater runoff, submerged zone, carbon source, copper removal, lead removal, antecedent dry period
- MeSH terms
- Cadmium, Copper, Filtration, Lead, Time Factors, Water Movements, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Zinc, Water Purification, Metals, Heavy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
