Selective removal and recovery of phosphate in a novel fixed-bed process

Abstract

This paper reports salient features of a new fixed-bed sorption process in regard to ultimate removal and recovery of phosphate from municipal and industrial wastewater. The sorbent, referred to as polymeric ligand exchanger(PLE), is essentially a copper(II) loaded specialty chelating polymer. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that the PLE: can remove phosphate selectively from municipal and synthetic wastewater; is amenable to efficient regeneration; and provides opportunities to recover phosphate and reuse the spent regenerant for multiple numbers of cycles.