Evaluation of phosphorus removal from wastewater by soilsin rural areas in China
Hanwen Liang , Junxin Liu , Yuansong Wei , Xuesong Guo
DOI:
Received March 12, 2009,Revised April 22, 2009, Accepted , Available online
Volume 22,2010,Pages 15-22
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Low-cost, easy-maintenance and high-e ciency decentralized wastewater treatment technologies are urgently needed in rural areas
of China. Processes with high potential for phosphorus removal are of great interest. However, commonly used treatment methods often
do not meet the strict criteria for removing phosphorus from rural wastewater. In order to search an economic and simple technology
for phosphorus removal from the common bio-technologies e uent, seven soil types collected from di erent rural areas in China were
investigated for their ability to remove phosphorus. X-ray di raction (XRD) was used to analyse the mineral structure, and inductively
coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) was used to analyse the geochemical composition of the soil samples. Three
primary minerals – quartz, albite and montmorillonite – were clearly detected. The samples were divided into two soil types, acidic
soils and alkaline soils, based on their pH values. The geochemical composition study indicated that a higher percentage of Ca and Mg
occurred in alkaline soils (pH > 8) than in acidic soils (pH < 6.5). Adsorption isotherms from batch experiments fitted the Langmuir
and Freundlich models well, the maximum P adsorption capacities ranged from 0.256 to 1.598 mg P/g, indicating a high phosphorus
removal potential for all of these soils. The P fractions extracted revealed that the sum of NaOH-extracted inorganic P (NaOH-Pi) was
the major P component in the acidic soils, and CaCO3-bound phosphorus (Ca-P) in the alkaline soils. Dynamic adsorption simulation
showed that these soils have the ability to remove phosphorus from wastewater.
