Sand from groundwater treatment coated with iron and manganese used for phosphorus removal from wastewater

Abstract

This article presents investigations into the removal of PO4-P from biologically treated wastewater using raw material taken from drinking water treatment filters – quartz sand grains coated with iron and manganese oxide coating (OG). The experiments carried out in laboratory stands used real household wastewater and demonstrated that OG filter media accumulated and removed from wastewater two times more PO4-P than known reactive filter media Filtralite P. The mean effectiveness of PO4-P removal from wastewater by filtering at a rate of 2.2 m/h and using OG filter media reached 68%. The pH of the filtrate from OG filter media was stable and reached 7.7 ± 0.2 thus meeting requirements for the discharge of treated wastewater into the natural environment. OG grains are mechanically resistant, do not pollute the filtrate and could therefore be used as filter media for tertiary wastewater treatment.