Phosphorous Desorbing Capacity of the Filter Materials Polonite^® and Sorbulite^®.

Abstract:

Replacing the lost Phosphates from different ecosystems is not a question it’s an onus. This none replaceable and renewable resource is one of the vital nutrients where without it, cells, crops and human beings cannot function and live. Though available in environment, its natural cycle is disturbed as its need especially in agriculture sector increases significantly.

Phosphorus recovery from waste water sorbents is one of the innovative and promising concepts. The core goal of this paper is to evaluate the phosphorus desorbing capacity of two reactive materials (waste water sorbents) using chemical extracts. The experimental work emphasized on investigation four extracts, HNO₃, NaHCO₃, P-AL and H₂O on phosphate desorption capacity of two inorganic reactive materials namely Polonite^® and Sorbulite^® which are widely known for their high P-sorption capacity. The kinetics and desorption were examined in batch experiments and consequently the plant availability were investigated using Flow Injection Analyzing (FIA) spectroscopy (wet chemistry) method. The maximum average orthophosphate desorption at 100 rpp for 48 hrs was interpreted to be 33.12 mg g−1and 3.11 mg g−1 from Sorbulite® and Polonite^® respectively using 4M HNO₃ extract. The orthophosphate desorption characteristic using the above extracts tended to decrease in the following order HNO₃≤ P-AL ≤ NaHCO₃≤ H₂O. Polonite^® shows a higher recovery potential, where almost 6 times higher ammonium lactate (AL)-extractable P was observed when compared with Sorbulite^®.

Batch experiment was proved to be a tool for investigating and evaluating Phosphorus desorption capacity of mineral-based filter materials.