Benzotriazole Uptake and Removal in Vegetated Biofilter Mesocosms Planted with Carex Praegracilis

Abstract

Urban stormwater runoff is a significant source of pollutants into surface water bodies. One such pollutant, 1H-benzotriazole, is a persistent, recalcitrant trace organic contaminant commonly used as a corrosion inhibitor in airplane deicing processes, automobile liquids, and engine coolants. This study explored the removal of 1H-benzotriazole from stormwater using bench-scale biofilter mesocosms planted with California native sedge, Carex praegracilis, over a series of three storm events and monitoring period. Benzotriazole metabolites glycosylated benzotriazole and benzotriazole alanine were detected and benzotriazole and glycosylated benzotriazole partitioning in the system were quantified. With a treatment length of seven days, 97.1% of benzotriazole was removed from stormwater effluent from vegetated biofilter mesocosms. Significant concentrations of benzotriazole and glycosylated benzotriazole were observed in the C. praegracilis leaf and root tissue. Additionally, a significant missing sink of benzotriazole developed in the vegetated biofilter mesocosms. This study suggests that vegetation may increase the operating lifespan of bioretention basins by enhancing degradation of dissolved trace organic contaminants, thus increasing the sorption capacity of the geomedia.

Biochar-augmented biofilters to improve pollutant removal from stormwater – can they improve receiving water quality?

“…Biofilter performance may be improved in various ways, such as alteration of the hydraulics of the system and creation of a submerged zone, 43,44 addition of plants or fungi with pollutant-removal capabilities, [45][46][47][48][49] or alteration of geomedia. Though certain types of engineered geomedia have proven effective for targeted contaminant removal (e.g., manganese-oxide, iron-oxide coated sands, 50,51 surfacemodified biochar, 52,53 and functionalized polymer clays 54 ), Fig.…”

Effects of salinity on the treatment of synthetic petroleum-industry wastewater in pilot vertical flow constructed wetlands under simulated hot arid climatic conditions

“…The uptake and transformation of benzotriazole in the plants was not studied; hence, it is not possible to distinguish between direct enhancement as a result of plant uptake and degradation in the plant tissue and an indirect enhancement as a result of a more favourable environment by microorganisms in the plant rhizosphere. However, the uptake and degradation of benzotriazole by plants in CWs has been described for other plant species than those used in the present study, such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Carex praegracilis (LeFevre et al 2015 ; Pritchard et al 2018 ). The benzotriazole removal efficiency at a mild salinity of 2 g/L under hot arid circumstances in the P. australis planted vertical-flow CWs (Fig.…”