Influence of the inherent properties of drinking water treatment residuals on their phosphorus adsorption capacities

Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the phosphorus（P） adsorption and desorption on five drinking water treatment residuals（WTRs） collected from different regions in China. The physical and chemical characteristics of the five WTRs were determined. Combined with rotated principal component analysis, multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the inherent properties of the WTRs and their P adsorption capacities. The results showed that the maximum P adsorption capacities of the five WTRs calculated using the Langmuir isotherm ranged from 4.17 to8.20 mg/g at a p H of 7 and further increased with a decrease in p H. The statistical analysis revealed that a factor related to Al and 200 mmol/L oxalate-extractable Al（Alox） accounted for 36.5% of the variations in the P adsorption. A similar portion（28.5%） was attributed to an integrated factor related to the p H, Fe, 200 mmol/L oxalate-extractable Fe（Feox）, surface area and organic matter（OM） of the WTRs. However, factors related to other properties（Ca,P and 5 mmol/L oxalate-extractable Fe and Al） were rejected. In addition, the quantity of P desorption was limited and had a significant negative correlation with the（Feox＋ Alox） of the WTRs（p 〈 0.05）. Overall, WTRs with high contents of Alox, Feoxand OM as well as large surface areas were proposed to be the best choice for P adsorption in practical applications.

Phosphate adsorption performance of a novel filter substrate made from drinking water treatment residuals

Phosphate is one of the most predominant pollutants in natural waters. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the phosphate adsorption performance of a（NFS） made from drinking water treatment residuals. The adsorption of phosphate on the NFS fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo second-order kinetic models. At p H 7.0, the maximum adsorption capacity of 1.03 mg/g was achieved at 15°C corresponding to the wastewater temperature in cold months, and increased notably to 1.31 mg/g at 35°C.Under both acidic conditions（part of the adsorption sites was consumed） and basic conditions（negative charges formed on the surface of NFS, which led to a static repulsion of PO43-and HPO42-）, the adsorption of phosphate was slightly inhibited. Further study showed that part of the adsorption sites could be recovered by 0.25 mol/L Na OH. The activation energy was calculated to be above 8.0 k J/mol, indicating that the adsorption of phosphate on NFS was probably a chemical process. Considering the strong phosphate adsorption capacity and recoverability, NFS showed great promise on enhancing phosphate removal from the secondary treated wastewater in the filtration process.

Use of Fe/Al drinking water treatment residuals as amendments for enhancing the retention capacity of glyphosate in agricultural soils

Fe/Al drinking water treatment residuals（WTRs）, ubiquitous and non-hazardous by-products of drinking water purification, are cost-effective adsorbents for glyphosate. Given that repeated glyphosate applications could significantly decrease glyphosate retention by soils and that the adsorbed glyphosate is potentially mobile, high sorption capacity and stability of glyphosate in agricultural soils are needed to prevent pollution of water by glyphosate.Therefore, we investigated the feasibility of reusing Fe/Al WTR as a soil amendment to enhance the retention capacity of glyphosate in two agricultural soils. The results of batch experiments showed that the Fe/Al WTR amendment significantly enhanced the glyphosate sorption capacity of both soils（p 〈 0.001）. Up to 30% of the previously adsorbed glyphosate desorbed from the non-amended soils, and the Fe/Al WTR amendment effectively decreased the proportion of glyphosate desorbed. Fractionation analyses further demonstrated that glyphosate adsorbed to non-amended soils was primarily retained in the readily labile fraction（Na HCO3-glyphosate）. The WTR amendment significantly increased the relative proportion of the moderately labile fraction（HCl-glyphosate） and concomitantly reduced that of the Na HCO3-glyphosate, hence reducing the potential for the release of soil-adsorbed glyphosate into the aqueous phase. Furthermore, Fe/Al WTR amendment minimized the inhibitory effect of increasing solution p H on glyphosate sorption by soils and mitigated the effects of increasing solution ionic strength. The present results indicate that Fe/Al WTR is suitable for use as a soil amendment to prevent glyphosate pollution of aquatic ecosystems by enhancing the glyphosate retention capacity in soils.

Investigation on the eco-toxicity of lake sediments with the addition of drinking water treatment residuals

Drinking water treatment residuals（WTRs） have a potential to realize eutrophication control objectives by reducing the internal phosphorus（P） load of lake sediments. Information regarding the ecological risk of dewatered WTR reuse in aquatic environments is generally lacking, however. In this study, we analyzed the eco-toxicity of leachates from sediments with or without dewatered WTRs toward algae Chlorella vulgaris via algal growth inhibition testing with algal cell density, chlorophyll content, malondialdehyde content, antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase activity, and subcellular structure indices. The results suggested that leachates from sediments unanimously inhibited algal growth, with or without the addition of different WTR doses（10% or 50% of the sediment in dry weight） at different p H values（8–9）, as well as from sediments treated for different durations（10 or 180 days）. The inhibition was primarily the result of P deficiency in the leachates owing to WTR P adsorption, however, our results suggest that the dewatered WTRs were considered as a favorable potential material for internal P loading control in lake restoration projects, as it shows acceptably low risk toward aquatic plants.