Research on ammonium nitrogen and phosphate removal from wastewater using natural and modified sorbents

Abstract

The work deals with the issues of ammonium nitrogen and phosphate phosphorus removal from wastewater. Natural and modified sorbents: zeolite, glauconite, and bentonite were tested under laboratory conditions. The wastewater after biological treatment with an average ammonium nitrogen concentration of 5 mg/L and an average phosphate phosphorus concentration of 3.4 mg/L was used for experimental studies. Before the test, the phosphate phosphorus concentration in the wastewater was increased to 19.9 mg/L by the addition of potassium hydrophosphate salt. Glauconite (after 3 hours in a muffle furnace at a temperature of 550 °C) had the greatest ability to sorb phosphorus. Under the conditions of this study, the PO4–P sorption efficiency was 58%. Ammonium nitrogen from wastewater was best sorbed by natural glauconite. Under the conditions of this study, the sorption efficiency of NH4–N was 98%. The results showed that the adsorption process on glauconite could be used as an effective method for removing ammonium from wastewater.