Effect of coexisting components on phosphate adsorption using magnetite particles in water

Synthesis of Lanthanum-Modified Natural Magnetite: Characterization and Valorization for Phosphorus Recovery from Aqueous Solutions

In this research work, a natural sample from an Omani magnetite (MG) deposit was used for the synthesis of a magnetite decorated with ferrihydrite (MG-Fh), and two lanthanum (La)-modified materials at mass percentages of 5% (MG-Fh-La-5) and 15% (MG-Fh-La-15). These materials were first characterized using various analytical techniques. Then, their phosphorus (P) recovery efficacy from aqueous solutions was studied in batch mode under a wide range of experimental conditions. The characterization results show that compared to the raw feedstock, MG-Fh, MG-Fh-La-5, and especially MG-Fh-La-15 have improved structural, textural, and surface chemistry properties. Adsorption tests indicate that due to the deposition of high contents of lanthanum oxides on its surface, the MG-La-15 exhibited a large P uptake capacity (34.5 mg g-1), which is significantly superior to those determined for MG-La-5 (24.3 mg g-1), MG-Fh (12.4 mg g-1), and various engineered materials published in the literature. Moreover, these materials retain an interesting ability to recover P from real wastewater with a highest adsorbed mass of 27.3 mg g-1, observed for MG-La-15. The P recovery seems to involve both physical and chemical mechanisms, including electrostatic interactions and complexation. This research work shows that La-modified magnetite can be considered a promising and eco-friendly material for P recovery from liquid effluents.

A mechanistic insight into anionic phosphate adsorption on developed chitosan.ZnO@metakaolin biocomposite

Due to their high efficiency, chitosan (Cs)-based materials are increasingly utilized for wastewater treatment applications. In this study, a novel Cs-based biocomposite, Cs.ZnO@Mk was developed by blending Cs with zinc oxide (ZnO) and metakaolin (Mk), and was evaluated for its capability as a biosorbent to remove phosphate (PO43-) ions from water. The biosorbent was characterized using FTIR, XRD, TGA, SEM, and XPS techniques. The determined optimal conditions for PO43- removal were pH 4, initial concentration 100 mg/L, and contact time 120 min, achieving 98.9 % PO43- removal efficiency. The adsorption isotherm and kinetic data were fitted well to Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, while thermodynamic study affirmed that the adsorption process was exothermic. XPS analysis suggested that electrostatic attraction and ligand-exchange were the key mechanisms for PO43- adsorption. Further mechanistic insights were gained through density functional theory (DFT) calculations and non-covalent interaction (NCI) analysis. Regeneration and counter-ions effect studies confirmed the effectiveness and stability of Cs.ZnO@Mk during PO43- adsorption. This demonstrates well its potential as a robust biosorbent for effective PO43- removal from industrial effluents.

Deposition behaviors and interfacial interaction mechanism between carboxyl-modified polystyrene nanoplastics and magnetite in aquatic environment

In aquatic environments, the deposition behaviors of nanoplastics (NPs) are closely associated with interfacial interaction between NPs and iron (hydr)oxides minerals, which are typically coupled with solution chemistry and organic matter. However, the roles of solution chemistry and organic matter in the deposition behavior of NPs with iron (hydr)oxides minerals and related interfacial interaction mechanism are still poorly understood. In this study, the deposition behaviors of carboxyl-modified polystyrene nanoparticles (COOH-PSNPs) with magnetite were systematically investigated. The results showed that electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bond, and charge-assisted hydrogen bond (CAHB) were the main forces for the deposition and interfacial interaction mechanism between COOH-PSNPs and magnetite. Increasing pH could significantly inhibit the deposition of COOH-PSNPs with magnetite. At pH 6.5, phosphate and dichromate significantly inhibited the deposition of COOH-PSNPs since their competitive adsorption for the surface sites on magnetite led to a potential reversal of magnetite, resulting in the strong electrostatic repulsion between COOH-PSNPs and magnetite. Moreover, when the concentration of phosphate exceeded 0.01 mM, the deposition of COOH-PSNPs was completely hindered. Organic macromolecules (OMs) markedly inhibited the interfacial interaction and deposition of COOH-PSNPs with magnetite by enhancing the electrostatic repulsion and steric hindrance between COOH-PSNPs and magnetite due to the formation of magnetite-OM associations. The inhibition abilities followed the order sodium alginate (0.1 mM) > humic acid (0.2 mM) > bovine serum albumin (5 mM). This study may provide insights for better understanding of environmental behaviors of COOH-PSNPs associated with magnetite and organic matter in natural environments at the molecular level.

Nutrients recovery from livestock wastewater by batch and gas bubble-column studies with biochar, nano-composite material, and ammonium magnesium phosphate hydrate

The breeding of livestock raises substantial environmental concerns, especially the efficient management of nutrients and pollution. This research is designed to assess the potency of char and modified char in diluting nutrient concentrations in livestock wastewater. The characteristics of graphene oxide, struvite, and calcium-modified char were inspected, defining their efficacy in both batch and bed-column investigations of nutrient sorption. Various factors, including sorption capacity, time of contact, ion levels, a decrease in ion levels over time, and sorption kinetics, have been considered, along with their appropriateness for respective models. The first evaluation of the options concluded that 600 °C char was better since it exhibited higher removal efficiency. Modified char sorption data at 600 °C was used to adjust the models "PSOM, Langmuir", and "Thomas". The models were applied to both batch and bed-column experiments. The maximum phosphate sorption was 110.8 mg/g, 85.73 mg/g, and 82.46 mg/g for B-GO, B-S, and B-C modified chars respectively, in the batch experiments. The highest phosphate sorption in column experiments, at a flow rate of 400 μl/min, was 51.23 mg per 10 g of sorbent. This corresponds to a sorption rate of 5.123 mg/g. B-GO and B-S modified chars showed higher sorption capacities; this was observed in both the batch and bed-column studies. This displayed the capability of graphene oxide and struvite-modified chars for efficient ion and nutrient uptake, whether in single or multi-ion environments, making them a very good candidate for nutrient filtration in livestock wastewater treatment. Additionally, B-GO char enhanced the sorption of phosphate, resulting in augmented seed germination and seedling growth. These results reveal that B-GO char can be used as a possible substitute for chemical fertilizers.

Eco-friendly nanoparticles: mechanisms and capacities for efficient removal of heavy metals and phosphate from water using definitive screening design approach

Can nano-zero-valent iron, synthesized using oak leaf extract, be the key solution for water preservation, efficiently removing heavy metal ions and phosphate anions simultaneously? This research unveils how this technology not only promises high efficiency in the remediation of water resources, but also sets new standards for environmentally friendly processes. The high antioxidant capacity and high phenol content indicate suggest the possibility of oak-nZVI synthesis using oak leaf extract as a stable material with minimal agglomeration. The simultaneous removal of Cd and phosphates, as well as and Ni and phosphates was optimized by a statistically designed experiment with a definitive screening design approach. By defining the key factors with the most significant impact, a more efficient and faster method is achieved, improving the economic sustainability of the research by minimizing the number of experiments while maximizing precision. In terms of significance, four input parameters affecting process productivity were monitored: initial metal concentration (1-9 mg L-1), initial ion concentration (1-9 mg L-1), pH value (2-10), and oak-nZVI dosage (2-16 mL). The process optimization resulted in the highest simultaneous removal efficiency of 98.99 and 87.30% for cadmium and phosphate ions, respectively. The highest efficiency for the simultaneous removal of nickel and phosphate ions was 93.44 and 96.75%, respectively. The optimization process fits within the confidence intervals, which confirms the assumption that the selected regression model well describes the process. In the context of e of the challenges and problems of environmental protection, this work has shown considerable potential and successful application for the simultaneous removal of Cd(II) and Ni(II) in the presence of phosphates from water.

Removal of phosphate at low concentration from water by porous PVA/Al2O3 composites

The porous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/Al₂O₃ composite by supporting activated alumina on the cross-linked network of PVA has been successfully prepared and its property for the removal of phosphate in aqueous solution was also evaluated. The structure of the PVA/Al₂O₃ was examined by scanning electron microscopy. It showed that the activated alumina particles with an average size of 1 μm were evenly dispersed and fixed in the cross-linked network structure of PVA. The effects of adsorption time, solution temperature, pH, initial concentration of phosphate, Al₂O₃ loading rate, dosage and coexisting ions on the phosphate removal were further studied. The results showed that the highest removal phosphate efficiency of 95% can be obtained with the Al₂O₃ loading rate of PVA/Al₂O₃ being 60 wt.% at pH of 4 at 30 °C. The maximum adsorption capacities of PO43- by PVA/Al₂O₃ suggested by the Langmuir isothermal model was 10.12 mg/g. The adsorption process of phosphate can be fit well with a pseudo-second-order model (R² = 0.9900). The PVA/Al₂O₃ composite exhibited a high selective adsorption of phosphate in the presence of commonly coexisting anions except the obvious effect of CO32- in water. Meanwhile, the PVA/Al₂O₃ composite can be easily separated and recovered due to the granulation of adsorbent. PVA/Al₂O₃ composite also shows the excellent properties of regeneration and recycling use with the removal efficiency of phosphate was 88.93%, 88.38% and 94.34% after three cycles, respectively. It can be proposed that the PVA/Al₂O₃ composite is a promising recyclable adsorbent for removing phosphate at low concentration from aqueous solution.

Influence of coexisting calcium and magnesium ions on phosphate adsorption onto hydrous iron oxide

Removal of phosphorus (P) from municipal wastewater is of vital importance to the control of eutrophication in receiving freshwater bodies. Typical cations such as Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ generally exist in municipal wastewater, and they may affect the sorption behavior and mechanism of iron oxide-based materials for aqueous phosphate (H_xPO₄^x - 3, x = 0, 1, 2, or 3 depending on solution pH). To better apply iron oxide-containing materials as adsorbents to eliminate H_xPO₄^x - 3 in municipal wastewater, a hydrous ferric oxide (HFEO) was prepared and characterized at first and then the impact of coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ on the uptake of H_xPO₄^x - 3 by HFEO was studied. The results showed that, without coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, the kinetic data for H_xPO₄^x - 3 sorption onto HFEO were better described by the Elovich model (R² = 0.953) than the pseudo-second-order (R² = 0.838) and pseudo-first-order (R² = 0.641) models, and the isotherm data were fitted better with the Dubinin-Radushkevich (R² = 0.966) and Freundlich (R² = 0.953) models than with the Langmuir (R² = 0.924) model. The ligand exchange of the Fe-bound hydroxyl group with H_xPO₄^x - 3 and the generation of Fe-O-P bonding played a key role in the uptake of H_xPO₄^x - 3 by HFEO in the absence of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺. Coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ greatly improved the adsorptive removal of H_xPO₄^x - 3 by HFEO, including the adsorption capacity and initial adsorption rate. According to the Langmuir isotherm equation, the predicted maximum H_xPO₄^x - 3 adsorption capacity for HFEO at pH 7 in the presence of 2 mmol/L Ca²⁺ (24.7 mg P/g) or 2 mmol/L Mg²⁺ (18.4 mg P/g) was much larger than that without coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ (10.7 mg P/g). The formation of aqueous CaHPO₄⁰ and MgHPO₄⁰ species firstly and then the adsorption of the formed CaHPO₄⁰ and MgHPO₄⁰ species on the HFEO surface to generate the HPO₄^2--bridged ternary complexes (i.e., Fe(OPO₃H)Ca⁺ and Fe(OPO₃H)Mg⁺) had an important role in the improvement of H_xPO₄^x - 3 adsorption onto HFEO by coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺.

Adsorption of phosphate on iron oxide doped halloysite nanotubes

Excess phosphate in water is known to cause eutrophication, and its removal is imperative. Nanoclay minerals are widely used in environmental remediation due to their low-cost, adequate availability, environmental compatibility, and adsorption efficiency. However, the removal of anions with nanoclays is not very effective because of electrostatic repulsion from clay surfaces with a net negative charge. Among clay minerals, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) possess a negatively charged exterior and a positively charged inner lumen. This provides an increased affinity for anion removal. In this study, HNTs are modified with nano-scale iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) to enhance the adsorption capacity of the nanosorbent. This modification allowed for effective distribution of these oxide surfaces, which are known to sorb phosphate via ligand exchange and by forming inner-sphere complexes. A detailed characterization of the raw and (Fe₂O₃) modified HNTs (Fe-HNT) is conducted. Influences of Fe₂O₃ loading, adsorbent dosage, contact time, pH, initial phosphate concentration, and coexisting ions on the phosphate adsorption capacity are studied. Results demonstrate that adsorption on Fe-HNT is pH-dependent with fast initial adsorption kinetics. The underlying mechanism is identified as a combination of electrostatic attraction, ligand exchange, and Lewis acid-base interactions. The nanomaterial provides promising results for its application in water/wastewater treatment.