New journal paper – Phosphate removal from dairy and municipal wastewater by Phoslock

A study was undertaken at the University of Haifa, Israel with results recently published in the Journal of Applied Clay Science. The study involved a number of batch experiments using various dose rates of Phoslock in order to determine its efficiency in removing dissolved phosphate from water samples. In the laboratory, Phoslock was applied to three different water types: (1) dairy wastewater, (2) municipal wastewater and (3) phosphate-spiked synthetic solutions.

Results from the experiment showed that the removal of phosphate in all the samples tested was rapid; a large proportion of the phosphate was adsorbed by Phoslock in the first 15 minutes. It was found that Phoslock easily achieved the removal of phosphate from contaminated water (municipal and dairy effluents) over time. They found that the benefits of using Phoslock over other water treatment chemicals was: (1) its ability to rapidly bind phosphate and keep it bound under a variety of pH conditions and; (2) Phoslock was simple to apply (with no preparation to the water prior to application). Results also showed that the ability of Phoslock to adsorb phosphate from the water samples increased with increasing concentrations of Phoslock and contact time (initially rapid, followed by a slower adsorption stage).

The authors concluded that Phoslock could be used in the design of a treatment process for phosphate removal from water and wastewater with a low hydraulic retention time and with minimal infrastructure. This is possibly the most important outcome of this research for the use of Phoslock in the water treatment industry.

For further information, the published paper can be found at: http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1SUjmcTCBtivg