Technical-economic comparison of chemical precipitation and ion exchange processes for the removal of phosphorus from wastewater

Chemical precipitation with the addition of ferric chloride is commonly used to remove phosphorus from wastewater. However, since its application also involves several disadvantages, alternative solutions are required. The present paper shows the results of a full-scale experimental work aimed at evaluating the efficiency of the ion exchange process using a polymeric anion exchange resin impregnated with aluminum ions in the removal of phosphorus from wastewater. The study compared the results obtained through this process with chemical precipitation, considering both technical and economic issues. At the same dosage of 6 L/hour and influent concentration (about 6 mg/L), total removal efficiency of 95% and 78% (including also that occurring in the mechanical and biological processes) was achieved by means of the anion exchange process and chemical precipitation, respectively. However, in the latter case, this value was insufficient to ensure consistent compliance with the limit of 2 mg/L Ptot set on the effluent; to achieve this goal, the ferric chloride dosage had to be raised to 12 L/hour, thus increasing the related costs. Furthermore, the anion exchange process generated a lower sludge production. Therefore, the ion exchange process represents a valid alternative to chemical precipitation for P removal from wastewater

Chloride adsorption on Fe- and Al-(hydr)oxide: estimation of Gibbs free energies

In this study, we used chemical quantum methods to analysis the adsorption of chloride on Al and Fe-(hydr)oxide clusters. Inner and outer sphere complexes were the generating complexes during the adsorption process on variably charged Al- and Fe-(hydr)oxide clusters. For the chloride adsorption on Al-(hydr)oxide, the outer sphere complexes—H-bonded—were favored for all clusters, while the adsorption modes as inner sphere complexes—BB or MM—were not favored. It was found, that the H-bonded complex on neutral clusters was the most thermodynamically favored with an adsorption energy of − 63.4 kJ/mol. For iron clusters, thermodynamic favorability was observed for both outer (− 70.5 kJ/mol) and inner monodentate (− 65.8 kJ/mol) sphere complexes. These theoretical results indicated that the thermodynamic favorability of chloride adsorption on Fe and Al-(hydr)oxide was directly related to positive surface charge. © 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Natur