Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Performance and Design Development for Compost technology used in Green Infrastructure, Green Building, and Urban Storm Water Applications
EPA Contract Number: EPD10026Title: Performance and Design Development for Compost technology used in Green Infrastructure, Green Building, and Urban Storm Water Applications
Investigators: Faucette, Britt
Small Business: Filtrexx International, LLC
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: March 1, 2010 through August 31, 2010
Project Amount: $68,510
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (2010) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) , SBIR - Green Buildings
Description:
Pollutants in urban stormwater typically originate from non-point source, impervious surfaces, such as parking lots, roadways, and rooftops, and vegetated surfaces such as golf courses, lawns, and pet recreation areas. Berg and Carter (1980) reported that soluble pollutants can exceed 80 percent of the total stormwater pollutant load where land surfaces have been stabilized. In some watersheds soluble pollutants may be of greater concern due to increased bioavailability to aquatic organisms, relative to sediment-bound pollutants. Project planners need adequate BMP design information to effectively reduce site stormwater pollutants to protect receiving water quality.
Green builders and designers, watershed managers, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) storm water permit holders, storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) designers, landscape architects, hydrologists, and project engineers need more low-cost Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development (LID) management practice options for site storm water design and maintenance. Many of the options available to Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) NPDES storm water permit managers and TMDL watershed managers are capital- or energy-intensive and have unverified performance and/or maintenance schedules. Additionally, utilization of high-performance, cost-effective on-site storm water pollutant removal systems ensures on-site storm water catchment systems, typical to green building projects, can deliver clean water to reuse systems, or are reducing energy use, costs, and infrastructure demand when treated at off-site water, wastewater, or storm water treatment facilities.
Preliminary research has shown compost filter socks (FS) and natural flocculents/sorbents (NF) can remove soluble and particulate storm water runoff pollutants under first flush, single-event conditions. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine the event removal efficiency and capacity of FS and FS+NF to remove soluble phosphorus, ammonium-nitrogen, nitrate-N, Escherichia coli , Enterococcus, and oil from urban storm water runoff; and 2) determine the longevity and maintenance schedules for this technology used in these applications based on results from objective 1.
This new information may assist green builders, regulators, watershed managers, urban planners, engineers, and architects in better site design, storm water management, water quality improvement, LID, and green infrastructure implementation and management programs. These results will be used to assist regulatory agencies and green designers in determining the acceptability of FS as a post-construction storm water management Best Management Practice (BMP).
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Research was conducted at the Environmental Management Byproduct Utilization Laboratory at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), located in Beltsville, MD. The laboratory study was set up to simulate, collect, and examine runoff from box chambers with FS and FS+NF installed. Four separate experiments (I-IV) were conducted to test the removal efficiency and capacity of FS, with and without NF, of various pollutants from synthetic runoff. All treatments were installed on a bare concrete surface to simulate impervious surfaces typically found in the urban landscape. All treatments were randomly assigned to chambers and repeated in triplicate for statistical analysis. Each experiment was designed to evaluate treatment performance on a specific group of pollutants typically found in urban runoff. Experiment I evaluated removal of soluble phosphorus; experiment II evaluated removal of inorganic N, NH4-N and NO3-N; experiment III evaluated removal of bacteria, E. coli and Enterococcus; and experiment IV evaluated removal of motor oil. All runoff was collected and analyzed after each simulated runoff trial.
The broader environmental benefits of this activity are that a new, locally available, recycled, rapidly renewable, bio-based product will: 1) improve the quality of our Nation’s water resources through existing federally mandated programs; 2) reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing demand for a product (compost) made by diverting organic materials from landfills (methane avoidance) and supporting locally manufactured, biobased materials (carbon dioxide reduction); 3) reduce the negative impacts associated with transportation (air quality and carbon dioxide emissions from tail pipe emissions, water quality from storm runoff, increased petroleum demand, urban/suburban traffic congestion) by supporting locally available products and businesses; 4) help municipal and state governments meet recycling/waste reduction goals and decrease pressure on landfills and the negative environmental impacts associated with landfills; 5) increase real estate values by designing and employing green infrastructure, LID, nature-based technologies that are aesthetically valuable, blend into existing landscapes, and can decrease expansion of existing and construction of new landfills; 6) reduce energy use, carbon emissions, and costs to treat storm water at on-site and off-site treatment facilities; and 7) improve the efficiency and lifecycle of on-site storm water catchment and reuse systems commonly used in green building and green infrastructure projects.
Conclusions:
Urban storm water runoff poses a substantial threat to receiving surface waters. Compost filter socks (FS) and natural sorbents or flocculents (NF) present a low-cost, low-footprint, sustainable solution to reducing on-site storm water pollutants. Treatments were exposed to pollutant concentrations consistent with urban runoff originating from impervious surfaces, such as parking lots and roadways. The FS+NF removed significantly greater soluble P than the FS, removing a total of 237 mg/linear m over 8 runoff events, or an average of 34 percent. The FS+NF removed 54 percent of ammonium-N over 25 runoff events, or 533 mg/linear m; and only 11 percent of nitrate-N, or 228 mg/linear m. The FS and FS+NF removed 99 percent of oil over 25 runoff events, or a total load of 38,486 mg/linear m. Over 25 runoff events, the FS+NF removed E. coli and Enteroccocus at 85 percent and 65 percent, or a total load of 3.14 CFUs x 108/linear m and 1.5 CFUs x 109/linear m, respectively. Results for the FS+NF were significantly different from the FS treatment. Based on these results, it is clear this technology can be used to remove a variety of storm water pollutants, and for oil and bacteria this technology may be used in more challenging applications where load exposure is much greater, such as oil spills and runoff from animal feeding operations.
Three design scenarios were presented using the Simple Method equation, and site and climate specific data, to determine annual storm water pollutant removal loads for the FS+NF for oil/grease in Atlanta, GA; E. coli. in Seattle, WA; and ammonium-N in Los Angeles, CA. Based on the three scenarios, and a goal to remove 50 percent of the annual load at each site, 664 linear m were required for the Atlanta site; 1783 linear m for the Seattle site, and 2,439 linear m for the site in Los Angeles.
Based on this study, designers have the option to choose the amount of treatment (length) they need to meet a certain goal, whether it is a prescribed removal efficiency (%) or load removal (mg), or time based replacement/maintenance program (annual or monthly). Site specifics may dictate the amount of treatment that can be utilized due to land area restrictions, or regulators may dictate exact removal efficiency or load removals due to sensitive receiving water bodies. Further studies should investigate the effects of increased inclusion rates of NF and increased pollutant exposure on pollutant removal efficiency and capacity of this technology; its performance for other persistent urban storm water pollutants such as heavy metals and pH; and the use of this technology in other green infrastructure applications, such as bioretention systems and bioswales.
Commercialization:
This technology already is covered under existing patents held by Filtrexx International. It will be used to assist in credit accrual for LEED Certified building projects in the Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency and Materials and Resources sections. Similar Filtrexx technologies have been promoted and recommended for certification programs by the Audubon Society, and this technology readily fits into the current draft of the Sustainable Sites Initiative Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks. This technology will be employed to improve the performance of existing green infrastructure BMPs, such as bioretention systems, rain gardens, vegetated filter strips, green roofs, rainwater cisterns, and infiltration trenches; and conventional practices, such as parking lot and storm water pond outfalls, roadside ditches, and conveyance systems. It can be easily designed and installed where these BMPs may not be feasible due to lack of necessary land area needed for effective on-site treatment with detention ponds and drain fields. Design firms, contractors, builders, developers, and consultants working in green building, water quality, storm water, and ecosystem enhancement or preservation are key target customers. Filtrexx International also maintains a Certified Designer program were the PI regularly trains professional engineers, landscape architects, and urban planners on designing with green infrastructure products and practices, where this technology will be included. Finally, the performance and design criteria determined from this project will be included in the Filtrexx International Standard Specifications and Design Manual, where designers and contractors find recommended applications; advantages and limitations; performance and design criteria; material specifications; installation, inspection, and maintenance guidelines; recycling and disposal recommendations; importable construction drawing details (Auto-CAD and DWG); and summaries for SWPPP documents. Nearly 3000 design firms already have access to this manual via the Internet or have received a hard copy.
The 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.