Building Phytotechnologies

Building an Urban Ecosystem within the Concrete Jungle Christine Prins and Covey Potter

Why build green?

Using biological properties to address concerns in urban ecosystems

– Indoor air quality – Thermoregulation – Roof runoff – Parking lot pollutants/climate – Grey water

We are confronted with these pollutants most every day. How can we use our knowledge of the natural environment to combat these?

How do we integrate nature into our building?

Green Plot Ratio

• Used by urban planners to organize amount of

greenspace necessary for increased human health and well-being

• Attempting to quantify benefits of plants in an urban

area

– Recreation – Aesthetics – Emotional well-being • Based on Leaf area index • Allows for development in conjunction with greenspace • Open for interpretation on how to implement (Ong 2003)

Indoor Air

•

Humans indoors almost 90% of the time “Sick building syndrome” (De Kempener et al. 2004)

• Pollutants several times greater

indoors than out (Orwell et al. 2004)

• Plants and microorganisms in

Rhizosphere and Phyllosphere are critical for pollutant removal (Wolverton and Wolverton 1993)

Indoor Air

• Plant “Biofilters” used to clean

volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) from air.

- Toluene removed by Azalea enriched with bacteria

Psuedomonas putida;

- Formaldehyde removed by Chrysathemum.

- Xylene removed by Date Palm - Ammonia removed by Lady Palm.

(De Kempener

et al.

2004Orwell

et al.

2004, Wolverton and Wolverton 1993)

CO

(Jeong et al. 2003)

2

Scrubbers

• Development of industrial bioscrubbers to decrease

green-house gasses from fossil-fueled power plants

• Hot spring Algae (pH 7-11) to treat CO

2 2006) (Hsueh et al.

Green Roofing

• Increased runoff in urban environment due to

impervious surfaces (Kohler et al. 2002)

• Gravel = 51% runoff while Vegetated = 18%

runoff

• 10% cover in green roof yielded 3% decrease in

runoff

• A 2% slope with 4 inch media decreased runoff

to 13%

(Mentens

et al.

2006, VanWoert

et al.

2005)

Green Roofing

• Affects local microclimate

- Increased infiltration - Increased evaporation - Decreased temperature - Decreased flooding - Dust filtration (and air pollutants) - Improved thermal comfort indoors - Increased urban wildlife habitat - Provides urban ecosystem services

(Kohler

et al.

2002, Mentens

et al.

2006, Pangopoulos 2008, VanWoert

et al.

2006)

Green Roofing

From Mentes

et al.

2006

Green Roofing

From VanWoert

et al.

2005

Urban Forestry

• Trees provide shade, increased

insulation, decreased insolation, increased infiltration, and intake of pollutants in the urban landscape - Decreased summer air conditioning = $15.25/tree, but Increased winter heating = $5.25/tree (Simpson and McPherson 1998) - Increased canopy cover by 40% yields 2% reduction in vehicle emissions (Scott et al. 1998)

The 411 on Graywater (or Greywater)

Municipal wastewater

• Sinks, washers, bathtub • 50-80% of municipal water use

Not toilet water (that’s black water) Typical contaminants:

• Low levels of organics and nutrients • Solids (food particles, hairs and fibers) • Heavy metals (Mn, Fe, Cd, Al, Pb, etc) • Xenobiotic Organic Compounds (shampoos, detergents,

perfumes, coffee, tea, diary products, cleaners, etc)

• Pharmaceuticals

Micro-organisms

• Bacteria • Protozoans • Helminths (Eriksson

et al

. 2002, Garland

et al.

2004)

REUSE!

Filtered and treated greywater can be reused within the municipal, domestic, and industrial systems in the following ways:

• Restricted and unrestricted irrigation • Garden/lawn watering • Toilet flushing • Non-potable household use

Reusing greywater can lead to a 25-50% reduction in total domestic water consumption

(Li

et al.

2009, Jokerst

et al. 2009,

Ghisi and Ferreira 2007)

Methods for Remediation

• Hydroponics – Horizontal – Vertical • Constructed Wetlands – Free Water Flow – Horizontal Subsurface Flow – Vertical Flow • Greenhouse Use • In tandem with Physical Filtration

Methods

Hydroponic Systems

• Horizontal – Indoor or outdoor • Vertical (Living Walls) – Pre-filtered – Indoor aesthetics – Downward flow through semi-potted plants • Benefits: – easily added amendments for improved filtration – Recycles otherwise wasted nutrients – Breaks down organic compounds

(Benefits, Environmental, Greywater Treatment

2009, Garland

et al.

2004, Garland

et al

. 2000)

Even Useful in Advertising…..!

Constructed Wetlands

Outdoor use of marsh/wetland species to filter extra nutrients, contaminants, and surfactants associated with greywater

• Place inside impermeable layer to prevent

leaching

• Sand or gravel filter layer • Estimated 0.8 m

2

of wetland/person

(Ghisi and Ferreira 2007, Jokerst

et al.

2009, Vymazal 2009)

Horizontal Sub-Surface Flow Model Vertical Flow Model (Vymazal 2009) Free Water Surface and Subsurface Model (Gross

et al.

2007) (Jokerst

et al.

2009)

At the end of the Constructed Wetland treatment, there is a significant reduction in contaminants such as excess nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.

(Philippi

et al.

1999)

Greenhouse Use

Greywater runoff can be used to irrigate/water greenhouse plants

In tandem with physical treatment options:

•

Septic tanks

• Sedimentation •Sand/gravel filtration layers • Disinfectants (Usually Chlorine, but can be biological:

Essential Oils!)

(Winward

et al.

2008, Garland

et al.

2004, Philippi

et al.

1999)

Plants to Use!

Typha lattifolia Triticum aestivum Scirpus acutus

Or your favorite oranmental….

Phragmites australis Lactuca sativa

(Jokerst

et al.

2009, Gross

et al.

2007, Winward

et al

. 2008,Garland

et al.

2004)

Gain Ground Turn your concrete jungle into an Urban Ecosystem

References

Benefits, Environmental, Greywater Treatment. EcoWalls. 2009. www.greenecowalls.com

De Kempeneer, L., B. Sercu, W. Vanbrabant, H. Van Langenhove, W. Verstraete. 2004. Bioaugmentation of the phyllosphere for the removal of toluene from indoor air. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 64: 284–288 Eriksson, E, K Auffarth, M Henze, A Ledin. 2002. Characteristics of grey wastewater. Urban Water 4 (2002) 85–104 Garland, JL, LH Levine, MC Yorio, ME Hummerick. 2004. Response of greywater recycling system based on hydroponic plant growth to three classes of surfactents. Water Research 38: 1952-1962.

Ghisi, E, DF Ferreira 2007. Potential for potable water savings by using rainwater and greywater in a multi-story residential building in southern Brazil. Building and Env. 42: 2512–2522.

Gross, A, O Shmueli, Z Ronen, E Raveh. 2007. Recycled vertical flow constructed wetland: a novel method of recycling greywater for irrigation in small communities. Chemosphere 66: 916-923.

Hsueh, H.T., H. Chu, and S.T. Yu. 2006. A Batch Study on the Bio-fixation of Carbon Dioxide in the Absorbed Solution from a Chemical Wet Scrubber by Hot Spring and Marine Algae. Chemosphere. 66 (5): 878-886 Jeong, M.L., J.M. Gillis, and J.Y. Hwang. 2003. Carbon Dioxide Mitigation by Microalgal Photosynthesis Carbon Dioxide Mitigation by Microalgal Photosynthesis Bull. Korean Chemistry Society. 24 (12): 1763 Jokerst, AW, LA Roesner, SE Sarvelle. 2009. An evaluation of graywater reuse utilizing a constructed wetland treatment system.

Kohler, M., M. Schmidt, F.W. Grimme, M. Laar, V.Lucia de Assuncao Paiva, and S. Tavares. 2002. Green Roofs in temperate climates and in the hot humid tropics – far beyond aesthetics. Environmental Management and Health. 13 (4): 382-391 Li, F, K Wichmann, R Otterpohl. 2009. Review of the technological approaches for greywater treatment and reuses. Sci of the Total Env. 407: 3439-3449.

Mentens, J., D. Raes, and M. Hermy. 2006. Green Roofs as a Tool for Solving the Rainwater Runoff Problem in the Urbanized 21 st Century. Landscape and Urban Planning. 77: 217-226 Oberndorfer, E., J. Lundholm, B. Bass, R.R. Coffman, H. Doshi, N. Dunnett, S. Gaffin, M. Kohler, K.K.Y. Liu, and B. Rowe. 2007. Green Roofs as Urban Ecosystems: Ecological Structures, Functions, and Services. BioScience. 57 (10): 823-833 Ong, BL. 2003. Green Plot Ratio: an Ecological measure for architecture and urban planning. Landscape and Urban Planning 63: 197-211.

Orwell, R.L., R.L. Wood, J. Tarran, F. Torpy, and M.D. Burchett. 2004. Removal of Benzene by the Indoor Plant/Substrate Microcosm and Implications for Air Quality. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution. 157: 193-207 Panagopoulos, T. 2008. Using Microclimatic Landscape Design to Create Thermal Comfort and Energy Efficiency. Conferencia Sobre Edificious Eficientes, Universidade do Algarve. 1-4 Philippi, L.S. 1999. Domestic effluent treatment through integrated system of septic tank and root zone. Water Sci. Technol. 40(3):125–13.

Scott, K.L., J.R. Simpson, and E.G. McPherson. 1999. Effects of Tree Cover on Parking Lot Microclimate and Vehicle Emissions. Journal of Arboriculture. 25 (3): 129-142 Simpson, J.R. and E.G. McPherson. 1998. Landscape and Urban Planning: Sacramento’s Parking Lot Shading Ordinance: Environmental and Economic Costs of Compliance. Atmospheric Environment. 32 (1): 69-74 VanWoert, N.D., D.B. Rowe, J.A. Anderson, C.L. Rugh. R.T. Fernandez, and L. Xiao. 2005. Green Roof Stormwater Retention: Effects of Roof Surface, Slope, and Media Depth. Journal of Environmental Quality. 34: 1036-1044 Vymazal, J. 2009. The use of constructed wetlands with horizontal sub-surface flow for various types of wastewater. Ecol. Engin. 35:1-17.

Winward, GP, LM Avery, T Stephenson, B Jefferson. 2008. Essential oils for disinfection of greywater. Water Research 42: 2260-2268.

Wolverton, B.C. and J.D. Wolverton. 1993. Plants and Soil Microorganisms: Removal of Formaldehyde, Xylene, and Ammonia from the Inddor Environment. Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences. 38: 2