Abstract
Although inorganic phosphate is an essential plant nutrient, elevated levels in surface waters lead to adverse effects in the environment. These effects are attributed to runoff from rain or irrigation events that may cause the sorbed phosphate to be transported from the application sites and to move into neighboring watersheds. Increased phosphate concentration in watersheds may lead to a variety of environmental problems including increased algal blooms, bacterial contamination, and in some cases eutrophication. To overcome these effects, polymer flocculants have been shown to reduce the phosphate concentration in water by removing suspended solids and thereby removing the phosphate sorbed to the solids. The purpose of this study is to determine the amount, if any, of phosphate removed by several commercial polymers. The polymers chosen include the polyacrylamides Magnifloc 494C, Magnifloc 985N and Poly (diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (Poly (DADMAC)). Using these polymers, it is discovered that the positive charge density of the polymers affects the amount of phosphate removed from solution with Poly (DADMAC) (having 100% positive charge density) removing 40% of the phosphate from a solution containing 10 ppm phosphate.
Highlights
Phosphorus is an essential plant nutrient that is commonly applied as a fertilizer and is frequently found in surface water
It was assumed that as more smectite was added less of the polymer would be available to interact with the H2PO4– in solution, as it would be adhered to the surface of the smectite particles
The results initially support this assumption as the polyacrylamides generally removed less H2PO4− with additional smectite added up to 100 mg (Figure 2)
Summary
Phosphorus is an essential plant nutrient that is commonly applied as a fertilizer and is frequently found in surface water. The source of phosphate can come from runoff from agricultural fields, land application of wastewater from concentrated animal feeding operations, and municipal wastewater [2] [4] [5] To help alleviate these adverse effects of phosphate on the environment, methods for the removal of inorganic phosphate from water are needed. Polymer flocculants are routinely used to remove solid material from water [12] They are added to municipal as well as industrial wastewater to remove suspended solids prior to further treatment to remove dissolved contaminants. These polymer flocculants interact with the surface of suspended solids, organizing the individual particles into larger structures called flocs. It is the effect of positive charge density on the amount of phosphate removed from solution that is the focus of this study
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