phyto from coves - College of Natural Sciences

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?



•
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


Green Plot Ratio

How do we integrate nature
into our building?

(Ong 2003)

Indoor Air

•
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)


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

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.
2004
Orwell
et al.
2004
,
Wolverton and Wolverton
1993
)

CO
2

Scrubbers

•
Development of industrial bioscrubbers to decrease
green
-
house gasses from fossil
-
fueled power plants
(Jeong
et al.
2003)

•
Hot spring Algae (pH 7
-
11) to treat CO
2

(Hsueh
et al.
2006)

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


•
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



Hydroponic Systems

(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

(Vymazal 2009)

Free Water Surface and Subsurface Model

Vertical Flow 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)

Phragmites

australis

Typha

lattifolia

Scirpus

acutus

Lactuca

sativa

(Jokerst
et al.
2009
, Gross
et al.
2007
,

Winward
et al
.
2008
,Garland
et al.
2004
)

Plants to Use!

Or your favorite
oranmental
….

Triticum

aestivum

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.
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–
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.
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Env
. 42: 2512
–
2522.

Gross, A, O
Shmueli
, Z Ronen, E
Raveh
. 2007. Recycled vertical flow constructed wetland: a novel method of recycling
greywater

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-
923
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Hsueh
, H.T., H. Chu, and S.T. Yu. 2006. A Batch Study on the Bio
-
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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
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Jokerst
, AW, LA
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, SE
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. 2009. An evaluation of
graywater

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Grimme
, M.
Laar
,
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de
Assuncao

Paiva
, and S. Tavares. 2002. Green Roofs in temperate climates and in the hot
-
humid tropics
–

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391

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