Evaluation of the Reuse of Baked-Alum Water Treatment Residual to Adsorb Phosphorous
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 12
Abstract
Excess phosphorous in waterways is known to be a cause of harmful algal blooms. This research evaluated if baking water treatment residuals (WTRs) would increase the number of adsorption sites, thereby increasing the WTRs ability to adsorb phosphorous. Initial sorption studies determined optimal baking temperatures of 175°C for alum based-WTR (Al-WTR) and 150°C for Al-WTR amended with power activated carbon (PAC) (PAC-WTR). Adsorption-desorption isotherm studies for baked Al-WTR (175°C) and PAC-WTR (150°C) found that there was a net desorption of phosphorous when distilled water was used as the background solution. When surface water was used, baked Al-WTR adsorbed more phosphorous at while baked PAC-WTR adsorbed more at . Continuous flow column tests were also conducted and found a sorption capacity of WTR for baked Al-WTR that was less than as-is and per kg-WTR, which was 83% better than its as-is counterpart. An analysis of all experiments found that as-is WTR performed better () than baked WTR and would be the recommended reuse of the water treatment plant’s WTR for the adsorption of phosphorous.
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Data Availability Statement
All data generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The following grants made this research possible through funding: Ohio EPA 319—Surface Water Quality Improvements, and Ohio Water Development Authority 80-17—Beneficial Reuse of Alum WTR for P Removal for a Tributary Feeding into Drinking Water Supply Reservoir.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 12 • December 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 18, 2020
Accepted: Jul 17, 2020
Published online: Sep 22, 2020
Published in print: Dec 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Feb 22, 2021
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