Enhancing the Reliability of Laboratory Phosphorus Filter Tests: Effect of Influent Properties and Interpretation of Effluent Parameters

Abstract

Filtration can be a convenient technique for removing phosphorus (P) at on-site wastewater treatment facilities to recycle this non-renewable element. When testing potentially suitable materials for these filters, the properties of the influent and the method used to analyse measured effluent concentrations both affect the P binding capacity determined in filter tests and therewith filter longevity predictions. At present, there is a lack of robust methods for material investigation and filter test interpretation. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of inflow PO4–P concentrations (concentration) and hydraulic surface load (load) on P binding capacity and to analyse possible interpretations of laboratory filter tests. A 22 factorial experiment with replicates was performed on the calcium-based filter material Filtra P. The investigated concentrations ranged from 12 to 50 mg L−1 and loads from 419 to 1,023 L m−2 day−1. P binding capacity (calculated by mass balance including data until PO4–P breakthrough point) was negatively affected by concentration and positively affected by load, with the effect of concentration being slightly greater. Depending on the factors' settings and on the method of evaluation (i.e. analysing all pre-saturation data or considering only pre-breakthrough results), the total measured P binding capacity varied between 2.2 and 9.0 g kg−1. The part of the breakthrough curve between the breakthrough point and saturation contributed significantly to the measured P binding capacity, and it took about three times longer for the filters to become saturated than to reach breakthrough. Furthermore, a considerable amount of P that had reacted with the filter material was washed out of the filters as particle-bound P. This indicates that it is important to determine both the PO4–P and the particle-bound P phases in the filter effluent.