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Pervious Concrete Pavement Permeability and Runoff Microplastics Mitigation—A Critical Review
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This review critically examines pervious concrete pavement as a strategy for capturing microplastics and tire wear particles from urban runoff, finding that bio-based adsorbents like biochar can improve removal efficiency, though replacing more than 6-7% binder weight reduces structural performance. Because road runoff is a major pathway for microplastics entering waterways, optimizing permeable pavement design offers a scalable infrastructure solution for pollution interception.
Microplastics and tyre wear particles through urban runoff are one of the major threats to water sources, potentially resulting in widespread ecological contamination. Pervious concrete pavement is a choice with the ability to capture microparticles. Hence, the understanding of the removal mechanisms, limitations in a deeper understanding of pore characteristics, and performance prediction sets the stage for the development. This review critically discusses the contributing parameters, uncertainties in procedures and performance measurements, and the possibility of modification. Identified different techniques and principles available for pavement construction and performance measurements. These practices questioned the universal applicability of the prediction models; the incorporation of machine learning techniques became popular. On the other hand, the possible ways of formation, characterization, and quantification of microplastics and tyre wear particles, along with the separation techniques of trapped particles, are discussed. Additionally, possible enhancements by incorporating biochar and its effect on the pervious concrete pavement requirements are assessed. The addition of bio-based adsorbents improved the removal efficiency, where biochar replacement of more than 6–7% in binder weight tends to reduce compressive strength and permeability of pervious concrete. Overall, existing studies have focused on quantifying microplastics and tire wear particles trapped in current pavement systems, while the influence of mix design parameters and pore characteristics on the removal efficiency of pervious concrete remains unexplored, However, the minimum captured size of microplastic and tyre wear particles by pervious concrete pavements from the real runoff sediments are 10 μm and 80 μm, respectively, where density separation is used for the separation of trapped particles. Therefore, optimizing the pervious concrete performances, including pore characteristics, must be prioritized in the upcoming studies.
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