Study on the reduction of pollutant load from roads using the modified hydrodynamic vortex filtration system (HVFS)

Abstract

Road runoff is a potential threat to receiving waters. The most common contaminants in road runoff contain heavy metals, inorganic salts, aromatic hydrocarbons and suspended solids that accumulate on the road surface as a non-point source. The best management practices (BMPs) are widely used for non-point source control. The design of BMPs can be modified using a different strategy to reduce pollutant load from urban road runoff. This study shows that a hydrodynamic vortex filtration system (HVFS) is one of the most suitable BMPs for catchment areas with highly polluted roads and urban structures in South Korea. Also, the modified HVFS has been used for improving efficiency. The removal rates of this study are 62% for TSS, 55% for COD, 25% for TN, 45.8% for TP and heavy metals (91% for Zn, 91.4% for Pb, 96.1% for Cu and 90.6% for Cr), respectively. This result shows that removal rate in the modified HVFS is higher than the conventional HVFS. Also, the performance of HVFS depends mainly on rainfall intensity and runoff amount through the field experiment. The application of this facility is able to contribute to the reduction of pollutant loads from roads and the improvement of the urban environment. Finally, the decision makers can consider the possibility of an eco-friendly city through the adoption of this system.