The effect of using mineral adsorbents along with nanoparticles in porous concrete to improve the quality of urban runoff

Kahrizi, Emad; SEDIGHI, MEHDI; Salami, Ebrahim; Rajaee, Taher; Nadali, Fatemeh

doi:10.48306/juem.2025.534489.1085

The effect of using mineral adsorbents along with nanoparticles in porous concrete to improve the quality of urban runoff

Authors

Emad Kahrizi ¹

MEHDI SEDIGHI ²

Ebrahim Salami ³

Taher Rajaee ¹

Fatemeh Nadali ¹

¹ Department of Civil Engineering, University of Qom, Iran

² Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Qom, Iran

³ Department of Civil Engineering, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.48306/juem.2025.534489.1085

Abstract

In the last decade, porous concrete has been considered as one of the effective options in urban runoff management, especially in sidewalks and surface pavements. In the present study, the combined performance of nanoparticles (5 wt%) and mineral adsorbents (15% zeolite, travertine, scoria and pumice) in porous concrete to improve the quality of urban runoff was investigated experimentally and numerically. The samples were evaluated in the laboratory under the passage of 10 liters of runoff for 2 hours and under constant temperature, porosity and permeability. TSS, COD and lead concentration parameters were measured before and after the runoff passage. Experimental results showed that adding pumice with 5% nanoparticles resulted in 75% lead removal, combining 10% zeolite with 5% nanoparticles resulted in 32% TSS removal and 15% zeolite with 2% nanoparticles resulted in 23% COD reduction. In numerical simulation using COMSOL Multiphysics, after calibrating the model with laboratory data, lead removal was reproduced to approximately 80% (with an error of about 20% compared to the experiment) and TSS and COD removal were reproduced to 17% and 9%, respectively (difference of 14–15%). The results show that the addition of inorganic adsorbents and nanoparticles, by reducing pores and increasing the contact surface, plays an effective role in the absorption of physical and chemical pollutants in runoff.

Keywords

Porous Concrete

Mineral Absorbents

Nanoparticles

Comsol

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