Adsorption of Compounds that Mimic Urban Stormwater Dissolved Organic Nitrogen.

  Stormwater runoff carrying nitrogen can accelerate eutrophication. Bioretention facilities are among low impact development systems which are commonly used to manage urban stormwater quality and quantity. They are, however, not designed to remove dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and may become a net DON exporter. Adsorption of seven organic nitrogenous compounds onto several adsorbents was examined. Batch adsorption study revealed that coal activated carbon (AC) exhibited the best performance in adsorption of the selected organic nitrogenous compounds. The highest adsorption capacity of coal AC was 0.4 mg N/g for pyrrole at an equilibrium concentration of 0.02 mg N/L, while adsorption was not detectable for urea at the same equilibrium concentration. The fastest compound to reach equilibrium adsorption capacity onto the coal AC was pyrrole (1 hour). The adsorption capacity of the coal AC for pyrrole and N-acetyl-d-glucosamine and 1-hour contact time is recommended for designing bioretention systems targeting organic nitrogenous compounds.