Agnieszka Renman

Long-term phosphate removal by the calcium-silicate material Polonite in wastewater filtration systems

The mineral-based filter material Polonite was tested for its PO4 removal capacity in column and full-scale systems using synthetic and domestic wastewater. Three long-term experiments (67, 68 and 92 wk), operated under different hydrological conditions, were compared. The best PO4 removal capacity (97%) was observed in an intermittent saturated column fed with a synthetic solution (530 L m(-2) d(-1)) without organic matter during 68 wk. An unsaturated column system using municipal wastewater (76.7 L m(-2) (-1)) showed no tendency for PO4 breakthrough and effluent PO(4) concentration was still low (0.2 mg L(-1)) after 67 wk. For a compact bed filter containing 560 kg of Polonite and fed with 70 m(3) of wastewater from a single house, the average PO4 removal was 89% after 92 wk of operation. The column experiments revealed that a design volume of 1-2 kg of material of a particle size of 2-5mm was required amount for treating 1m(3) of wastewater in on-site systems operating at target 90% P mass removal. Poor pre-treatment of the wastewater was suggested to reduce the phosphate removal capacity of Polonite in the bed filter trial, where 8 kg were required per m(3). To measure pH of the treated effluent water proved not to be a simple tool for determining when the filter material is exhausted and should be replaced.

Effect of organic load on phosphorus and bacteria removal from wastewater using alkaline filter materials

The organic matter released from septic tanks can disturb the subsequent step in on-site wastewater treatment such as the innovative filters for phosphorus removal. This study investigated the effect of organic load on phosphorus (P) and bacteria removal by reactive filter materials under real-life treatment conditions. Two long-term column experiments were conducted at very short hydraulic residence times (average ~5.5 h), using wastewater with high (mean ~120 mg L(-1)) and low (mean ~20 mg L(-1)) BOD7 values. Two alkaline filter materials, the calcium-silicate material Polonite and blast furnace slag (BFS), were tested for the removal capacity of total P, total organic carbon (TOC) and Enterococci. Both experiments showed that Polonite removed P significantly (p < 0.01) better than BFS. An increase in P removal efficiency of 29.3% was observed for the Polonite filter at the lower concentration of BOD7 (p < 0.05). Polonite was also better than BFS with regard to removal of TOC, but there were no significant differences between the two filter materials with regard to removal of Enterococci. The reduction in Enterococci was greater in the experiment using wastewater with high BOD7, an effect attributable to the higher concentration of bacteria in that wastewater. Overall, the results demonstrate the importance of extensive pre-treatment of wastewater to achieve good phosphorus removal in reactive bed filters and prolonged filter life.

Metal removal by bed filter materials used in domestic wastewater treatment

Bed filters using reactive materials are an emerging technology for on-site wastewater treatment. Used materials, which are enriched with phosphorus, can be used as a fertiliser or soil amendment. However the materials can also be enriched with metals from the wastewater. Six materials (opoka, sand, Polonite, limestone, two types of blast furnace slag) exposed to long-term wastewater loading in columns and in a compact filter well filled with Polonite were investigated for metal removal and accumulation. Wastewater applied to the columns had low heavy metal concentrations in the order Zn>Cu>Mn>Ni>Cr. All columns were able to remove 53%-83% of Zn except those filled with sand. Polonite demonstrated a high removal capacity of Mn (>98%), while only the slag materials were able to remove Ni. All materials showed increased Cu, Cr(III), Mn, Pb and Zn content after filtration. Speciation calculations showed that high concentrations of dissolved organic matter might have prevented efficient metal removal, particularly in the case of Cu. The low content of toxic heavy metals in the studied filter materials studied would probably not restrict their use as a fertiliser or soil amendment.

Phosphorus removal performance and speciation in virgin and modified argon oxygen decarburisation slag designed for wastewater treatment

Argon oxygen decarburisation (AOD) slag may be used for phosphorus (P) removal, as its high pH and weatherable calcium (Ca) minerals provide sufficient Ca(2+) and OH(-) for calcium phosphate (Ca-PO4) precipitation. This study examined the P removal performance of AOD slag for use as wastewater treatment material. Batch experiments were carried out using both synthetic P solution and real wastewater, followed by chemical modelling and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. The influences of initial P concentration, slag dose and modification by polyethylene glycol (PEG), an effective agent for generation of porous materials, were investigated to determine the optimal conditions for P removal by AOD slag. It was found that virgin AOD slag removed 94.8% of P from a synthetic P solution in 4 h and 97.8% in 10 h. This high P removal was accompanied by a rapid increase in pH from 7.0 to 10.74. The maximum P removal capacity (PRC) from synthetic P solution ranged from 1.3 to 27.5 mg P g(-1). The optimal AOD dose for P removal from wastewater, determined in 8-h batch experiments, was 25 g L(-1). PEG modification increased the reaction rate and resulted in higher final pH, increasing PRC by 47.9%. Combined Visual MINTEQ and XANES analysis for detailed examination of P removal mechanisms revealed that the main P removal mechanism was precipitation of calcium phosphate. According to the XANES analysis, the main Ca-PO4 precipitate formed on virgin AOD slag under low initial P concentration and high pH was apatite, while brushite was the dominant product at high initial P concentration and low pH.

Phosphorus removal from wastewater by field-scale fortified filter beds during a one-year study.

ABSTRACT Due to low availability of alternative technologies, rural communities are unable to comply with national wastewater discharge limits. This study tested the effectiveness of filter bed fortification with biochar on phosphorus removal. Water-tight down-flow beds of sand and gas concrete, constructed alongside a reference sand bed (all 0.8 m deep and 0.75 m2 surface area), were topped with a 0.2 m biochar layer. Pre-treated domestic wastewater with mean concentrations of 6.4 mg/L and 142.6 NTU, was infiltrated at 4 cm/d hydraulic loading rate. Ultimately, the biochar-sand was relatively outstanding in turbidity reduction, achieving <5 NTU. The biochar-gas concrete exhibited superior performance in removal, trapping 32.3 g (40.2%), compared with 20.5 g (25.6%) and 15.5 g (19.3%) by biochar-sand and reference bed respectively. However, statistical analysis revealed a weak correlation between pH and biochar-gas concrete removal efficiency (r2 = 0.2). The relationship was stronger for biochar-sand (r2 = 0.5) than reference (r2 = 0.4) bed. Paired samples t-tests showed that incorporating biochar into the sand bed significantly (p = .04) improved its removal efficiency. In conclusion, sand bed fortification with biochar could be an important measure for improving P removal and wastewater clarification efficiency. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Comprehensive assessment of organic contaminant removal from on-site sewage treatment facility effluent by char-fortified filter beds

To remove organic contaminants from wastewater using cost-efficient and currently existing methods, our study investigated char-fortified filter beds for on-site sewage treatment facilities (OSSFs) in a long-term field setting. OSSFs are commonly used in rural and semi-urban areas worldwide to treat wastewater when municipal wastewater treatment is not economically feasible. First, we screened for organic contaminants with gas chromatography and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry-based targeted and untargeted analysis and then we developed quantitative structure-property relationship models to search for key molecular features responsible for the removal of organic contaminants. We identified 74 compounds (24 confirmed by reference standards) including plasticizers, UV stabilizers, fragrances, pesticides, surfactant and polymer impurities, pharmaceuticals and their metabolites, and many biogenic compounds. Sand filters that are used as a secondary step after the septic tank in OSSFs could remove hydrophobic contaminants. The addition of biochar significantly increased the removal of these and a few hydrophilic compounds (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, α = 0.05). Besides hydrophobicity-driven sorption, biodegradation was suggested to be the most important removal pathway in this long-term field application. However, further improvements are necessary to remove very hydrophilic contaminants as they were not removed with sand and biochar-fortified sand.

Leachability and plant-availability of phosphorus in post-sorption wastewater filters fortified with biochar

ABSTRACT Sand and gravel are widely applied for filtering pre- or primary-treated wastewater in small-scale wastewater treatment (SWT) systems. However, ecological materials continue to attract increasing interest in use as retrofits for achieving better performance in removing dissolved contaminants and recovering nutrients from wastewater. In this study, we assessed the plant availability and leachability of phosphorus (P) from sand (Sa) and gas concrete (GC) media previously fortified with biochar (BC) and used for phosphorus (P) removal in laboratory-scale packed bed reactors and field-scale constructed filter beds. Batch and leaching experiments were conducted, with distilled water and ammonium lactate (AL) solutions (1:20 solid–liquid (w/v) ratio) applied as extractants. In the findings, reference (Sa) and fortified (Sa-BC) sand filters leached 11.2 and 20.5 mg P kg−1 respectively, to percolating water while the P seemed less likely to leach from GC systems. Extraction with AL showed that P retained in GC was plant-available and that GC could release up to 90 mg kg−1 of the bound mass. These findings highlight the need to evaluate risks of nutrient leaching from filter media for SWT systems especially where groundwater and surface water are final recipients of such effluents. For greater sustainability of use of the media, the weakly bound P in media such as Sa and BC and strongly bound in media such as GC types of materials may be recovered by recycling the spent material to agriculture. However, this may require re-design of the treatment system especially with respect to particle size to make recycling technically feasible. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT