Enhanced Denitrification in Bioretention Using Woodchips as an Organic Carbon Source

Abstract

Bioretention systems fundamentally lack the ability to effectively reduce total nitrogen concentrations from urban stormwater. Column tests were conducted to simulate a bioretention anoxic zone and evaluate the effects of stormwater retention time, limestone addition, and woodchip species, size, and mass percentage on the bioretention denitrification process. Denitrification of an artificial stormwater was demonstrated and appeared to follow first-order kinetics. A 0.8-day average retention time showed the highest nitrate removal percentage of