An Innovative Design of a Clay‐Zeolite Medium for the Adsorption of Total Phosphorus from Wastewater

Abstract

Phosphorus significantly influences the eutrophication process, modifying the quality of waterways and habitat, especially in stagnant waterbodies exposed to septic tank effluent at high nutrient levels. This research explores the development of a cost-effective, efficient, and affordable on-site wastewater treatment system targeted as total phosphorus (TP) removal technology. The research objective is to demonstrate the TP removal efficiency of an optimized clay-zeolite medium by chemical adsorption. The study observes the effects of pellet medium design and modifications, influent concentrations, and contact time. Following various stages of optimization, the preliminary testing achieves a 45 ± 1.8% removal after 45 minutes of contact time. The optimized pellets are contained within a five-layer bench-scale model, achieving equilibrium TP removal of 72 ± 2.9% after 3 hours. Theoretical extrapolation to 12 contact hours indicates an achievement of 88% removal is possible. The results show a positive correlation with the linearized Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms.

Heavy Metal Adsorption From a Multimetal Solution by Bentonite-Kaolin-Zeolite Pellets: Linear and Nonlinear Regression, and Error Analysis

“…The zeolite, bentonite, and kaolin powder mix were made into a paste with distilled water and then kneaded and passed through a manual extruder to form pellets 5 ± 0.1 mm long x 2 mm diameter. These were dried and calcined following Ciosek et al (Ciosek, Luk, Warner, and Warner, 2016). The pellets were oven-dried at 105 °C for 18 hours and then calcined at 600 °C for 6 hours, increasing the temperature at 5 °C/min.…”

“…These were dried and calcined following recommendations by Ciosek et al (2016). The pellets were oven-dried at 105 °C for 18 hours and then calcined at 600 °C for 6 hours, increasing the temperature at 5 °C/min.…”

The influence of separately and combined bentonite and kaolinite as binders for pelletization of NaA zeolite from coal fly ash

“…The wet granulation process is commonly used for manufacturing binder-containing zeolite with the addition of water in order to adjust the viscosity and plasticity of the mixture [25,26]. Several studies have demonstrated the use of clays as an inorganic binder in zeolite pellets [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. The type and amount of the binder can affect the mechanical durability of the granulate and also the sorption capacity of the granulated material.…”