Migration and fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in bioretention systems with different media: experiments and simulations

Highlights

● Bioretention systems showed > 92% load reduction rates of PAHs.

● PAHs were accumulated in the upper layer of media 10–40 cm.

● The fate of PAHs in bioretention systems by different design scenarios were revealed.

● NAP was degraded within 40 d while FLT and PYR were not completely degraded.

● PAHs didn’t show accumulation trends under continuous rainfall events.

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present significant risks to human health owing to their carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic properties. The contamination of surface water with PAHs via runoff has become a prominent source of water pollution. While the capacity of bioretention systems to remove PAHs from runoff is recognized, the dynamics of PAH migration and degradation in these systems are not well-understood. This study aims to explain the migration and fate of PAHs in bioretention systems through a series of experiments and model simulations. This study constructed bioretention systems with three different media types and found that these systems achieved PAH load reductions exceeding 92%. Notably, naphthalene (NAP), fluoranthene (FLT), and pyrene (PYR) tended to accumulate in the media’s upper layer, at depths of 10 to 40 cm. To further analyze the migration and fate of PAHs during multi-site rainfall events and across prolonged operation, we applied the HYDRUS-1D model under three distinct scenarios. The findings of this study indicated that NAP degraded in 40 d, whereas FLT and PYR showed incomplete degradation after 120 d. During continuous rainfall events, there was no clear pattern of PAH accumulation; however, FLT and PYR persisted in the bioretention systems. The combination of experimental and simulation findings highlights the inevitable accumulation of PAHs during extended use of bioretention systems. This research provides a theoretical basis for improving operational efficiency, advancing PAH degradation in bioretention systems, and reducing their toxicity.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Bioretention / Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons / HYDRUS-1D / Model simulation / Migration

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52070157 and 52000150), and the Scientific Research Item of Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group (China) (DJNY2022-30 and DJNY-2023-YB-31).

CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Zhaoxin Zhang: Validation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Jiake Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Funding acquisition, Writing - review and editing. Zhe Liu: Writing - review and editing, Formal analysis. Yajiao Li: Funding acquisition, Writing - review and editing. Bei Zhang: Investigation, Formal analysis. Chunbo Jiang: Funding acquisition, Writing - review and editing.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1802-9 and is accessible for authorized users.

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