Utilization of zirconium-modified granular zeolite as capping and mixing materials to suppress phosphorus release from sediment in landscape water body

Abstract

A zirconium-modified granular zeolite (ZMGZ) was created and investigated for the suppression of the internal P loading in shallow landscape water bodies in this study. Results showed that the as-synthesized ZMGZ possessed high phosphate sorption capacity with a Langmuir maximum monolayer uptake capacity of 6.87 mg PO43−/g. Capping of landscape water body sediments with ZMGZ reduced the releasing rate of soluble reactive P (SRP) from the sediments into the overlying water, and it significantly reduced the SRP releasing rate under anoxic condition. Furthermore, the sediment capping decreased the pore water SRP concentration, and it was difficult for most of P trapped by the ZMGZ covering layer to be re-released into the water column. When the ZMGZ in the covering layer was mixed with the sediment, the ZMGZ became a sediment amendment. Mixing of landscape water body sediments with ZMGZ also resulted in the reduction of the SRP concentrations in the overlying and pore waters under the conditions of low and high dissolved oxygen, and it was also hard for most of P adsorbed by the added ZMGZ to be released back into the water column. Additionally, the addition of sediments with ZMGZ led to the decrease of the amounts of mobile and bioavailable P in the sediments. To sum up, we conclude that the capping/mixing combination method, which involves sediment capping with ZMGZ at first and then gradual mixing of ZMGZ with sediment via various natural disturbances (e.g., physical disturbance and bioturbation), is a very promising strategy for inhibiting the release of SRP from shallow landscape water body sediments into the overlying water.