THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

EFFECT OF DRY AND WET ALTERNATION ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF HEAVY METAL FORMS IN BIORETENTION SYSTEMS

ABSTRACT
Urban stormwater runoff pollution has emerged as a pressing concern, with heavy metals emerging as a primary contaminant. This poses a significant threat to the ecological environment and human health. As an effective management measure, heavy bioretention systems are often subject to different degrees of wet and dry alternation, resulting in changes in the accumulation patterns of heavy metals in the system. In this study, a simulation system was constructed and experimental groups with varying dry and wet alternation cycles were established. We then proceeded to analyze the morphological transformations of Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺ using the continuous extraction method, thereby unveiling the mechanism behind changes in the bioefficacy of heavy metals under dry and wet alternation. The results demonstrated that wet-dry alternation significantly altered the morphological distribution of heavy metals. Specifically, the exchangeable states of Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺ decreased by 3%-7% and 2%-3%, respectively, during the drought period. However, these metals increased by 1%-4% after rewatering. The bioavailability of Cd and Pb exhibited an increase in response to short-term wet-dry alternation, while long-term drought resulted in a decrease. This study elucidates the regulatory principles that govern the alterations in the morphology and bioavailability of heavy metals under conditions of wet and dry alternation. This provides a theoretical basis for controlling heavy metal pollution in urban storm-water and optimizing bioretention systems.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2024-12-01
PAPER REVISED: 2025-05-17
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-05-18
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-04-12
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI2602273H
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2026, VOLUME 30, ISSUE No. 2, PAGES [1273 - 1279]
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© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence