Grantee Research Project Results
2018 Progress Report: Toward Sustainable Urban Stormwater Management with New, Green, Low-Cost Sorbent-Coated Wood Mulch
EPA Grant Number: SV839355Title: Toward Sustainable Urban Stormwater Management with New, Green, Low-Cost Sorbent-Coated Wood Mulch
Investigators: Deng, Yang , Yang, Lisitai , Soleimanifar, Hanieh
Current Investigators: Deng, Yang
Institution: Montclair State University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: II
Project Period: March 1, 2018 through February 29, 2020 (Extended to December 31, 2021)
Project Period Covered by this Report: March 1, 2018 through February 28,2019
Project Amount: $75,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2017) Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
Objective:
The primary objective of this Phase II proposal is to enable pilotscale design capable of demonstrating long-term performance of the coated mulch-based filtration systems in the alleviation of urban stormwater pollution. Besides the traditional benefits of mulch (e.g. erosion control, moisture retention, and weed control), wood mulches serve as an inert supporter for active adsorbent coatings. Our Phase I studies demonstrate that the two lowcost adsorbent coatings, i.e. water treatment residuals (WTRs) and oak-based biochar, provide complimentary adsorption capabilities. In Phase II, we will test oak-based biochar used in Phase I and also municipal sewage sludge derived biochar (SSDB) in order to pursue a more sustainable urban water management system. Particularly, a whole or part of energy for the SSDB synthesis will derive from anaerobic digestion of municipal sewage sludge. A student team composed of four students from different disciplines, of whom two participated in the Phase I study, will be assembled. To achieve the goal, three specific objectives will be pursued.
Progress Summary:
The project aimed to enable pilot-scale design capable of demonstrating long-term performance of water industry wastes for mitigation of urban stormwater pollution. We first synthesized and characterized sewage sludge based biochar (SSDB) prepared under different pyrolysis conditions. Adsorption kinetic and isotherm tests were carried out to determine its adsorption behaviors for different model runoff pollutants. Meanwhile, leaching tests were also performed to evaluate the release of undesirable chemical constitutes at different scenarios. Results show that SSDB could effectively capture Zn and phenol, which represented typical heavy metal and synthetic organic compound (SOC) pollutants in runoff, respectively, better than commercially available oak-based biochar that was able to adsorb phenol, but poorly removed Zn. However, the two biochar types exported phosphate. Further investigations revealed that the unwanted leaching of phosphate and other constituents could be dramatically inhibited with the increasing pyrolysis temperature. Moreover, the adsorption capability of SSDB for Zn and phenol was also enhanced at a higher pyrolysis temperature. Therefore, SSDB synthesized at the optimal pyrolysis conditions (i.e. 900oC and 4 hrs) was used for the follow-on experiments.
On-site stormwater treatment devices loaded with these low-cost adsorbents were designed and then installed for treatment of roof runoff generated from the Center for Environmental and Life Sciences (CELS) building on the campus of Montclair State University(Montclair, New Jersey). The samples were collected for analysis to determine technical and economic aspects and sustainability of the new stormwater treatment design.
In parallel with the aforementioned research, education tasks are implemented, including: 1) topics on non-point pollution in urban areas were added to teaching portfolio of two exiting courses; 2) high school and Masters students participated in the project through summer research intern and registration in an independent study course, respectively; and 3) the research data collected from this project was part of a PhD student's dissertation.
This on-going project demonstrates that SSDB has a greater potential to mitigate different types of urban runoff pollutants than commercial wood-based biochar. And the treatment performance relies heavily upon the reactor design such as contact time.
Future Activities:
In the next year, the activities to be completed will include: 1) to regularly collect and analyze water samples for comparison of the treatment performance under different design conditions. Data will be statistically processed using the MS Excel. And the treatment model will be established based on the mass balance. 2) to collect and characterize spent adsorbents after pilot scale tests. Besides regular material analysis (e.g. SEM, EDS, and BET), the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) tests will be carried out to determine release of unwanted chemicals from these wastes. 3) to conduct life cycle analysis based on the data collected from our experiments.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 6 publications for this projectProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractP3 Phase I:
Low-Cost Active Coating Mulch for Urban Runoff | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.