Novel Wollastonite-modified pervious concrete flooring system for nutrient removal from water runoff

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Agricultural activities, and in particular those associated with animal production facilities, can adversely affect water quality. Pollution in water runoff from these facilities includes sediments, pathogens, and nutrients. Such nutrients in surface waters can be detrimental to most forms of aquatic life, and cause serious health and water quality concerns for neighboring communities. One problem with current operational practices for animal confinement facilities is the use of impervious flooring surfaces such as normal concrete, which increase runoff from these facilities, leading to higher pollutant levels in the surrounding environment. It is believed that pervious concrete incorporating wollastonite additives can be an optimum flooring system for such animal production facilities. Pervious concrete is a highly permeable concrete with a high flow rate for water through its body. On the other hand, wollastonite is a naturally occurring acicular mineral (calcium meta-silicate) that is known to act as an effective medium for nutrients removal. Combining these two features of wollastonite and pervious concrete can lead to a novel flooring system with high efficiency in reducing nutrients concentrates and water runoff, leading to innovation in environmental and waste management practice in animal confinement facilities.