Removal of Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Wastewater Using Layered Filter Media

Aušra Mažeikienė and Julita Šarko ()
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Aušra Mažeikienė: Department of Environmental Protection and Water Engineering, Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania
Julita Šarko: Department of Environmental Protection and Water Engineering, Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-10

Abstract: After biological wastewater treatment, ammonium nitrogen (NH 4 -N), nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 -N), and phosphate phosphorus (PO 4 -P) remain in the effluent, which is discharged into natural water bodies. For further removal of these wastewater compounds, three selected materials were used as filter media: quartz sand used in drinking water treatment plants, Purolite A502PS resin, and natural zeolite. After placing all selected materials in the first filtration column (height of each layer-30 cm), the concentration of NH 4 -N in the wastewater was reduced by 5 times (from 8.22 to 1.5 mg/L), the concentration of NO 3 -N by 6 times (from 2.46 to 0.44 mg/L), and the concentration of PO 4 -P by 3 times (from 1.56 to 0.45 mg/L). The second column was without a Purolite A502PS layer, so the concentration of NO 3 -N in the filtrate from the second column was not reduced. The filtration columns were operated for about 2 months, and the filtration was stopped due to clogging with suspended solids (TSS) with an average concentration of 53.2 mg/L. The preliminary removal of TSS from wastewater before filtration through sorbents is recommended. The tested materials effectively treat wastewater of nitrogen (average efficiency 80–83%) or phosphorus (average efficiency 65–67%) and do not pollute the wastewater with environmentally hazardous substances, so they can be used in the development of tertiary wastewater treatment filters.

Keywords: wastewater; ammonium nitrogen; nitrate nitrogen; phosphate phosphorus; filtration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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