A natural zeolite (Z-N), rich in clinoptilolite, was modified (Z-Al) by incorporation of hydrated aluminum oxide (HAlO) for the simultaneous phosphate and ammonium removal. The incorporation of surface hydroxyl groups (≅Al-OH) into the zeolite structure, as active groups for phosphate removal, was characterized by acid-base titrations (pHPZC=4.5±0.2). The phosphate sorption increases from 0.6 mg-P/g for Z-N up to 7.0 mg-P/g while only a slight decrease on the ammonium sorption capacity from 33 mg-N/g of Z-N to 30 mg-N/g for Z-Al was observed. The HAlO modified zeolite sorption capacity for both phosphate and ammonium was slightly reduced by common ions typically present in secondary waste water effluents. Column experiments revealed higher enrichment factor for ammonium (120) than for phosphate (50) using 1 M NaOH as elution solution. A reduction of zeolite phosphate capacity with regeneration cycles was observed.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Water scarcity in the Mediterranean basin has been solved by using seawater desalination reverse osmosis technology (SWD-RO). This technology produces brine which is discharged back into the sea resulting in an environmental impact on marine ecosystems. Under the circular economy approach, the aim of this work is to recover resources from NaCl-rich brine (~60-70 g/L), e.g. in the form of NaOH and HCl, by integration of two ion exchange-based membrane technologies and quantify the electrical energy consumption. Electrodialysis (ED) incorporating monovalent selective cation exchange membranes as divalent ions purification and concentration of the NaCl present in the SWD-RO brine, was integrated with bipolar membrane ED (EDBM) to produce NaOH and HCl. Current densities of 0.30–0.40 kA/m2 at two temperature ranges simulating different seawater temperature regimes (15-18 ºC and 22-28ºC) were tested and a pure NaCl solution was used as starting concentrate stream. NaCl-rich brines with 100 or 200 gNaCl/L were obtained by ED and then introduced in the EDBM stack producing HCl and NaOH up to 2 M, depending on the initial concentrations. A minimum energy consumption of 1.7 kWh/kgNaOH was calculated when working by EDBM with initial concentrations of 104 g NaCl/L and 0.24 M HCl and NaOH.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract