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Abstract
Geothermal (ground source) heat pumps (GHP) and permeable pavement systems (PPS) have demonstrated their effectiveness in both industry and academic research during recent decades. To meet the rising demand for sustainable, recyclable and energy efficient techniques, research has focused on the combination of techniques to enhance existing or develop new applications.
This paper reports on an experimental programme that combined GHP with PPS for nutrient removal and system energy balancing. Experimental data collected over a 3-year period have provided evidence of highly efficient removal rates of up to 99% for ammonia–nitrate and biochemical oxygen demand; and 96% removal rates were obtained for orthophosphate–phosphorus. This paper also contains energy efficiency ratio (EER) and coefficient of performance (COP) calculations. Cyclic heat removal and heat rejection allowed for stable temperature and pump COP and EER sustainability. The results prove that PPS systems are appropriate for GHP installation, delivering high and stable pollutant removal with EER efficiencies between 1.5 and 5.5.
The combination of GHP with PPS has the potential to provide a new sustainable and eco-friendly practice.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Hanson Formpave Ltd which sponsored Mr Tota-Maharaj's and Mr Grabowiecki's PhD projects. The researchers would like to thank Dr Stephen Coupe from Coventry University for his participation in technical discussions and advice concerning the experimental set-up. Dr Martin Crapper provided advice on the preparation of the paper.