Phosphate removal from wastewater using reinforced feed material at the tertiary treatment stage

In recent years, eutrophication processes have posed a serious threat to water bodies. As a result of excess inputs of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from drainage basins, natural water quality deteriorates, which is usually accompanied by changes in the water bodies ecosystem structure. The increased concentration of nutrients leads to the rapid development of blue-green algae, reduced dissolved oxygen, fish-kill, coastal zones overgrowth, treated water processing complication. The article provides relevant information in the field of phosphate-removing wastewater treatment. The article presents advanced chemical and physical-chemical methods of phosphate-removing wastewater treatment. The article presents the results of the research on phosphate-removing wastewater treatment methods using iron-bearing feed material. The evidence of physical-chemical nature of deep phosphate-removing purification of water is presented. Deep phosphate removal is mainly due to physical-chemical processes of phosphate coagulation with ferrous ions, the source of which is the metal in the feed material, which is subjected to processes of electrochemical corrosion. When the biofilm loading becomes overgrown, the contact of the metal surface area with water decreases and the purification effect decreases. After regeneration of the load, the efficiency of phosphate removal increased to its previous level. Using the method of deep phosphate removal from domestic wastewater, with the help of reinforced feed material, at the tertiary treatment stage the required efficiency of phosphate removal can be achieved, however, there is a high consumption of metal in the feed material. © 2020 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd