Layered double hydroxides, an effective nanomaterial to remove phosphorus from wastewater: Performance, mechanism, factors and reusability

Weidong Feng; Hu Cui; Hui Zhu; Brian Shutes; Baixing Yan; Shengnan Hou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163757

Layered double hydroxides, an effective nanomaterial to remove phosphorus from wastewater: Performance, mechanism, factors and reusability

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Aug 1:884:163757. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163757. Epub 2023 May 2.

Authors

Weidong Feng¹, Hu Cui², Hui Zhu³, Brian Shutes⁴, Baixing Yan⁵, Shengnan Hou⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China; State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Changchun 130102, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China; State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Changchun 130102, China. Electronic address: cuihu@iga.ac.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China; State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Changchun 130102, China. Electronic address: zhuhui@iga.ac.cn.
⁴ Department of Natural Sciences, Middlesex University, Hendon, London NW4 4BT, UK.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China; State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Changchun 130102, China.

PMID: 37142047
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163757

Abstract

Systematic understanding of phosphorus adsorption performance, mechanism, factors and reusability of layered double hydroxides (LDH) remains limited. Thus, iron (Fe), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)-based LDH (FeCa-LDH and FeMg-LDH), were synthesized with a co-precipitation method to improve phosphorus removal efficiency during the wastewater treatment process. Both FeCa-LDH and FeMg-LDH showed a considerable ability to remove phosphorus in wastewater. When the phosphorus concentration was 10 mg/L, the removal efficiency reached 99 % (FeCa-LDH: 1 min) and 82 % (FeMg-LDH: 10 min), respectively. The phosphorus removal mechanism was observed to be electrostatic adsorption, coordination reaction and anionic exchange, which was more evident at pH = 10 for FeCa-LDH. Co-occurrence anions that affected phosphorus removal efficiency, were observed in the following order: HCO₃^- > CO₃^2- ≈ NO₃^- > SO₄^2-. After five adsorption-desorption cycles, phosphorus removal efficiency was still up to 85 % (FeCa-LDH) and 42 % (FeMg-LDH), respectively. Together, the present findings suggest that LDHs were high-performance, strongly-stable and reusable phosphorus adsorbents.

Keywords: FeCa-LDH; FeMg-LDH; Nanomaterials; Phosphorus; Wastewater.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Hydroxides
Phosphorus
Wastewater
Water Pollutants, Chemical*
Water Purification* / methods

Substances

Wastewater
Phosphorus
Hydroxides
Water Pollutants, Chemical