Sorption of organic pollutants frequently detected in stormwater: evaluation of five potential sorbents

Journal article, 2018

Adsorption filtration is one of the most promising techniques for removal of dissolved, colloidal and particulate pollutants from stormwater. The aim of this study was to compare the capacity of five filter materials – cellulose, chitosan, chitosan-covered bark, pine bark and polypropylene/polyethylene (PP/PE) fibres – to sorb organic pollutants frequently detected in stormwater, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylphenols and phthalates. In batch tests, synthetic stormwater spiked with a mixture of the organic compounds was contacted with the materials for up to 24 h. The compounds were then liquid–liquid extracted and analysed using GC-MS. Cellulose and chitosan showed very low sorption capacity for the organic contaminants, whereas >70% of the initial concentration of most tested compounds was removed using PP/PE fibres, and >80% with pine bark and chitosan-covered bark. The highest adsorption capacity was found for PAHs (up to 44 μg/g) using PP/PE fibres and bark. For all tested compounds, maximum sorption was approached within 30 min using these materials.