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Denitrification using permeable reactive barriers with organic substrate or zero-valent iron fillers: controlling mechanisms, challenges, and future perspectives

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Abstract

Nitrate as a diffusive agricultural contaminant has been causing substantial groundwater quality deterioration worldwide. In situ groundwater remediation techniques using permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) have attracted increasing interest. Particularly, PRBs based on biological denitrification, using the organic substrate as a biostimulator, and chemical nitrate reduction, using zero-valent iron (ZVI) as a reductant, are two major PRB approaches for groundwater denitrification. This review paper analyzed the published studies over the past 10 years (2010–2020) using laboratory, modeling, and field-scale approaches to explore the performance and mechanisms of these two types of PRBs. Important factors affecting the denitrification efficiencies as well as the influential mechanisms were discussed. Several research gaps have been identified and further research needs are discussed in the end.

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Funding

Liaoning Provincial Scholarship for International Postgraduates, Natural Science Foundation of China (grants: 41672248), Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (Grant No.: 20180550040), and Liaoning Distinguished Professorship Program (Liaojiaohan (2018)-35).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Eco-restoration of Regional Contaminated Environment, Ministry of Education, Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, China

    George Kwame Amoako-Nimako, Xinyao Yang & Fangmin Chen

  2. Liaoning Provincial Key Lab of Urban Integrated Pest Management and Ecological Security, Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, China

    Fangmin Chen

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  1. George Kwame Amoako-Nimako
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  3. Fangmin Chen
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Contributions

George Kwame Amoako-Nimako performed the literature search and data analysis and drafted the work; Xinyao Yang provided the idea, advised on the structure and scope of the review, performed data analysis, and critical revisal of the work; Fangmin Chen analyzed the data and revised the work.

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Correspondence to Xinyao Yang.

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Amoako-Nimako, G.K., Yang, X. & Chen, F. Denitrification using permeable reactive barriers with organic substrate or zero-valent iron fillers: controlling mechanisms, challenges, and future perspectives. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 21045–21064 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13260-7

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