Simultaneous removal of phosphorus and organic micropollutants from wastewater?
Daniela Reif et al. had the opportunity to test and contribute to further develop a novel adsorption/precipitation prototype supplied by Donau Chemie AG.
Some main findings from lab and full-scale tests:

• The prototype suspension achieved a higher OMP removal and toxicity reduction than standard PAC at similar specific PAC doses, most probably due to the prototype’s acidic character
• Phosphorus and DOC in wastewater are core criteria for determining the required mass fraction of PAC. The PAC mass fraction should be optimized for the site-specific effluent matrix characteristics; it typically ranges between 12 % and 20 % (5 g L−1 P to be precipitated and 5–10 mg L−1 DOC).
• During the full-scale application, P removal requirements were met, and a targeted PAC/DOC ratio of 2 enhanced OMP removal by > 90 % for carbamazepine, > 50 % for diclofenac and metoprolol and 30 % for benzotriazole. The total removal during stable prototype dosing was: 95.0 ± 3.5 % for metoprolol, 80.7 ± 1.5 % for benzotriazole, 95.3 ± 4.5 % for carbamazepine and 76.3 ± 6.4 % for diclofenac.
• Applying the adsorption/precipitation prototype is possible with the existing infrastructure and equipment for P-precipitation, thus no additional investment is needed.

For further details, check the openaccess publication: https://lnkd.in/d5FXGdfx, opens an external URL in a new window