Bilayer Infiltration System Combines Benefits from Both Coarse and Fine Sands Promoting Nutrient Accumulation in Sediments and Increasing Removal Rates

Infiltration systems are treatment technologies based on water percolation through porous media where biogeochemical processes take place. Grain size distribution (GSD) acts as a driver of these processes and their rates and influences nutrient accumulation in sediments. Coarse sands inhibit anaerob...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2018-05, Vol.52 (10), p.5734-5743
Main Authors: Perujo, N, Romaní, A. M, Sanchez-Vila, X
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accumulation
Aggregates
Anaerobic processes
Bilayers
Biogeochemistry
Biogeoquímica
Denitrification
Desenvolupament humà i sostenible
Enginyeria civil
Geologia
Grain size distribution
Hidrologia
Infiltration
Medi ambient
Monolayers
Nutrient availability
Nutrient removal
Nutrients
Paleolimnology
Porous media
Sand
Sand & gravel
Sediments
Size distribution
Water treatment
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Infiltration systems are treatment technologies based on water percolation through porous media where biogeochemical processes take place. Grain size distribution (GSD) acts as a driver of these processes and their rates and influences nutrient accumulation in sediments. Coarse sands inhibit anaerobic reactions such as denitrification and could constrain nutrient accumulation in sediments due to smaller specific surface area. Alternatively, fine sands provide higher nutrient accumulation but need a larger area available to treat the same volume of water; furthermore, they are more susceptible to bioclogging. Combining both sand sizes in a bilayer system would allow infiltrating a greater volume of water and the occurrence of aerobic/anaerobic processes. We studied the performance of a bilayer coarse–fine system compared to a monolayer fine oneby triplicatein an outdoor infiltration experiment to close the C–N–P cycles simultaneously in terms of mass balances. Our results confirm that the bilayer coarse–fine GSD promotes nutrient removal by physical adsorption and biological assimilation in sediments, and further it enhances biogeochemical process rates (2-fold higher than the monolayer system). Overall, the bilayer coarse–fine system allows treating a larger volume of water per surface unit achieving similar removal efficiencies as the fine system.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.8b00771