Abstract:
Bio -retention systems depend on compost, and a combination of soil to filter storm water run-off. Bio- retention systems can leach out nutrients from compost. The purpose of the research is to investigate the removal of copper in bio retention systems. For this purpose artificial simulated bio-retention system was developed. The hypothesis was that copper has strong affinity to attach with the organics that are abundant in compost, as it is all organics, could possibly be used to retain high doses of copper present in the storm water hence decreasing the impact of storm water on receiving environment. The compost was taken from a commercial compositing plant. The compost was sieved and filled in to vertical PVC columns in the laboratory. The columns were sprinkled with copper solution for ten days. The physical parameters included pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The experiment was performed for consecutive ten days for one hour. The diluted solution was made of three columns in which 3.38 mg/l of copper is used. After the experiment, the result indicated that compost contains significant amount of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and copper. Most of the phosphorous found in the leachate sample was in the form of orthro-phosphorous. Most of the copper was leached from the compost in the dissolved phase. The results indicated that copper has high affinity for organics and compost can be used for removal of copper from storm water.
