In Situ Partial Exfiltration of Rainfall Runoff. II: Particle Separation

Metal elements or other constituents transported in urban and transportation land use rainfall runoff are often adsorbed on or incorporated with entrained particles that are ubiquitous in such runoff. Infiltration–exfiltration can be an effective in situ particle separation and quantity control structural best management practices or low impact development practices allowing runoff to return to soil after passive physical-chemical treatment. The in situ partial exfiltration reactor (PER), which combined the surface straining of the cementitious porous pavement (CPP) layer with filtration of oxide coated sand media beneath, provided control of water quantity and quality. Particle analyses were carried out for both influent and effluent to examine filter efficiency as a function of particle size and hydrology. Influent dm/dp ratios suggest that the dominant PER particle separation mechanisms were unsaturated physical–chemical filtration with the CPP layer functioning as a straining surface. Particle size distributions were modeled based on a two-parameter cumulative power-law function. The performance of the PER as a filter is shown to be a function of the unsteady site hydrology. Temporal variation in the filter coefficient and the volumetric particle fraction remaining were directly related to the unsteady influent loading rate. Particle removal efficiency by the PER based on concentration ranged from 71 to 96% on a mass-based concentration and 92–99% on a number based concentration. Results suggest that a properly designed PER can provide effective in situ control for particles and could be combined with or function separately from source control (i.e., pavement cleaning or a mass trading framework).