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Research Status and Trends of Hydrodynamic Separation (HDS) for Stormwater Pollution Control: A Review
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This systematic review synthesizes two decades of research on hydrodynamic separation (HDS) devices — physical systems that use vortex flow to separate particles from stormwater runoff — covering their design principles, performance, and limitations. While HDS systems effectively remove sediment and some pollutants, their performance for removing microplastics varies significantly depending on particle size and density. The review is relevant to microplastics management because stormwater is a major pathway for microplastics entering waterways, and evaluating how well current infrastructure captures them is essential for improving urban water management.
Growing urbanization has increased impermeable surfaces, raising and polluting stormwater runoff, and exacerbating the risk of urban flooding. Effective stormwater management is essential to curb sedimentation, minimize pollution, and mitigate urban flooding. This systematic literature review from the Web of Science and Scopus between January 2000 and June 2024 presents hydrodynamic separation (HDS) technologies. It sheds light on the significant issues that urban water management faces. HDS is classified into four categories: screening, filtration, settling, and flotation, based on the treatment mechanisms. The results show a shift from traditional standalone physical separations to multi-stage hybrid treatment processes with nature-based solutions. The great advantage of these approaches is that they combine different separation mechanisms and integrate ecological sustainability to manage urban stormwater better. The findings showed that future research will examine hybrid AI-assisted separation technologies, biochar-enhanced filtration, and green infrastructure systems. When adopting an integrated approach, the treatment system will perform like natural processes to remove pollutants effectively with better monitoring and controls. These technologies are intended to fill existing research voids, especially in removing biological contaminants and new pollutants (e.g., microplastics and pharmaceutical substances). In the long term, these technologies will help to enforce Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and orient urban areas in developing countries towards meeting the circular economy objective.
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