Phosphorus Removal from Domestic Wastewater Using Dual Reactive Materials Polonite® and Absol®.

Abstract: Private wastewater treatment facilities release tons of phosphorus to the aquatic environment due to the insufficient removal efficiency in conventional soil infiltration systems. Reactive filter materials have demonstrated promising P removal rates. Laboratory-scale column experiments were carried out using Absol® and Polonite® in dual infiltration media and results were compared with Polonite® functioning as the only layer of reactive filter material. Two sets of experiments were arranged with layer lengths of 5 cm and 15 cm which were operated for 50 and 119 days respectively. Columns with an additional layer of Absol® demonstrated very good average removal rates of 85.99 % and 99.13 % in both experiments while the effluent in the former exceeded the maximum allowed P concentration shortly after half of the total time of the experiment. On the other hand, O-P concentration in collected samples from dual filter media with 15 cm layers of Absol® and Polonite® (column B1) was as low as 0.04 mg/l after 119 days of operation exhibiting high potentials for Absol® in local wastewater treatment. Levels of pH in treated samples showed a decreasing trend in all columns which was similarly simultaneous with high removal rates observed in B1.