Page 224 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Green and Eco-Friendly Materials for Removal of Phosphorus 205

Babatunde and co-researchers used residue generated from an aluminum-based water
treatment plant for removing phosphorus in the engineering wetlands (Babatunde
et al., 2009). Dunets and team examined concrete waste and basic oxygen steel slag
from southern Ontario. Almost 99% phosphorus adsorption capacity was observed
in this case. The authors suggested taking proper care while designing the filter and
provided an effective design that could be implemented on a large scale (Dunets
et al., 2015). Other industrial wastes, such as fly ash (Drizo et al., 1999); skin split, a
waste from the leather industry (Farahbakhshazad and Morrison, 2003); electric arc
furnace steel slag (Drizo et al., 2006); and lithium silica fume (Xie et al., 2016) have
been employed for the treatment of phosphorus-contaminated water.

10.2.3 use of green anD eco-frienDly MaTerials
The eradication and recycling of phosphorus can be increased by the adoption of
green and environmental friendly materials. Several researchers are in pursuit of
finding the most capable low-cost natural material for the removal of phosphorus.
Mineral-based naturally occurring materials, which include rocks, soils, sand, clay,
and aggregates, have been explored for their efficiency in removing phosphorus from
wastewater. Calcite, a natural adsorbent, was employed for the elimination of phos-
phorus from synthetic wastewater. The best results were obtained at a high concen-
tration of calcite. The study also revealed the loaded adsorbent to be a fertilizer for
acidic soils (Karageorgiou et al., 2007). Boujelben and group examined the phospho-
rus removal potential of synthetic iron oxide–coated sand, natural iron oxide–coated
sand, and iron oxide–coated crushed brick. Comparative analysis revealed the last
option to be the best (Boujelben et al., 2008). Similarly, the removal efficiency of
several natural materials has been investigated by different researchers for phospho-
rus removal. Table 10.1 shows a number of naturally occurring materials used for the
treatment of phosphorus-contaminated water.
Abundantly found, renewable, eco-friendly materials are endorsed by the scien-
tific community as the most attractive and reliable solutions for phosphorus treat-
ment. Also, as natural materials are biodegradable in nature, after uptake in the
adsorption process, phosphorus-loaded adsorbents can be easily used on agricultural
fields in the form of compost and fertilizer. Other than naturally occurring materials
of mineral origin, lignocellulosic materials have been identified as potential candi-
dates for the eradication of phosphorus from wastewater.
A green material, algal turf scrubber, was used during the treatment of runoff
water from agricultural fields and eutrophic lake water. The biomass consisted of
a natural mixed assembly of periphyton, microalgae, and bacteria. A 152.4 m long
and 6.5 m wide scrubber was built with UV disinfection and used experimentally
to treat the secondary effluent from an evaporation pond. The results suggested that
the employed biomass had a great potential to treat wastewater, which could be con-
trolled by varying the hydraulic loading rate (Craggs et al., 1996). Different sources
of wastewater (sewage water, aquaculture water, well water, and mineral growth
medium) were tested with water fern, a natural material, for the removal of phos-
phorus (Forni et al., 2001). Jayaweera and Kasturiarachchi (2004) investigated the
efficiency of water hyacinth in phosphorus removal from industrial wastewater. The