Assessing the Efficiency of Green Absorbent in Treating Nutrients and Heavy Metal in Wastewater

Ming Fai Chow (), Ainun Syakirah Bahruddin and Kok Hua Chua
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Ming Fai Chow: Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
Ainun Syakirah Bahruddin: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Kok Hua Chua: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-12

Abstract: This study is aimed to determine the performances of zeolite-water hyacinth ash (WHA)-clay (ZWC) pellets on removing nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) and heavy metal (HM). In this study, the adsorption experiments were conducted for various pellet compositions and sizes, the application of pre-treatment on pellets, and tested with different concentrations of synthetic wastewater. The results identified that the maximum removal capacities of ZWC pellet were 0.112 mg/g, 0.08 mg/g, 0.171 mg/g, and 0.151 mg/g for phosphate (PO 4 ), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 ), and total nitrogen (TN), respectively. The optimization experiment indicated that smaller pellet sizes and those treated with calcium hydroxide solution exhibited better N&P and HM removal performances. The optimized ZWC pellet was able to remove up to 90%, 86%, 94%, 90%, 84%, 86%, and 91% for PO 4 , TP, NO 3 , TN, zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and lead (Pb), respectively, after 3 h of contact time. The ZWC pellet proved that it can be used as an effective adsorbent for wastewater treatment.

Keywords: nitrogen; phosphorus; wastewater treatment; water hyacinth; zeolite (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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