The aim of the paper is to evaluate the usefulness of opoka rock and reactive material made of it to remove phosphorous from surface water and wastewater. Presented results concern the effects of calcium (Ca) contamination in the reactive material (heated opoka) and it impacts on the value of the maximum sorption capacity Smax. Six batches of material (O1-O6) which come from deposits located in Belzec (south-east part of Poland) is characterized by variable amounts of Ca, which is 238,6-520,1 g∙kg-1. The maximum sorption capacity Smax estimated by Langmuir isotherm model equals 12,3-25,5 mg P-PO4 g-1∙kg. To assess the relationship between the content of Ca, Fe Al and Mg in composition of the reactive material and its ability to retain phosphorus correlation coefficients was used and showed that calcium (Ca) is associated with phosphorus sorption capacity (r=0.99126). Also, Fe2O3 and Al2O3 content have an impact on the ability to bind phosphorous. In contrary, the contamination of MgO has no significant effect on the value of Smax.
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The most of the on site wastewater treatment systems in Poland discharges treated effluent to the soil. The goal of phosphorus (P) reduction from dispersed sources of pollution can be achieved by application of P reactive materials in the construction of wastewater infiltration systems. Two P reactive materials were tested in this study: Polonite® in grains of 26 mm and lightweight aggregate Leca® in grains of 410 mm. Apparent P sorption capacity was assesed on 40.9 mg·g-1 (Polonite®) and 5.1 mg·g-1 (Leca®). Both materials sorbed P-PO4 very fast, after 15 min over 90% of P was removed from solution and wastwater. Wastewater used in this study came from the outlet from the septic tank of on site septic system. P-PO4 solution was prepared from KH2PO4 and the tap water. In the small column experiment, four collumns (2 filled with Polonite® and 2 filled with Leca®) were fed with wastewater and P-PO4 solution in hydraulic loadings of 3040 dm3·m-2·d-1. All the columns removed significant amounts of P from both solution and wastewater with the reduction between 28.3% and 72.5%. The mean P-PO4 effluent concentrations ranged from 1.21 mg·dm-3 to 7.12 mg·dm-3. The best overall performance was achieved by the Polonite® fed ...
