Simultaneous removal of phosphate and ammonium using salt–thermal-activated and lanthanum-doped zeolite: fixed-bed column and mechanism study

AbstractAssessment of breakthrough performance of NaCl–Thermal–LaCl3 synthetic modified zeolite continuous flow fixed-bed column on the simultaneous removal of phosphate and ammonium from simulated municipal wastewater was conducted. Variable parameters, including solution pH, bed depth, effluent flow rate, and input concentration, were examined for this study. The results indicated that the adsorption capacity increased with the increase in bed depth and input concentration and decrease of effluent flow rate for both phosphate and ammonium. Thomas and Yoon–Nelson models were found to give the better fitness to experiment data of the whole breakthrough curves, whereas Adams–Bohart model could only predict the initial part of the breakthrough using linear regression analysis. The bed depth service time model of breakthrough data showed that the time for the movement of the mass transfer zone increased with the increase in bed height and flow rate and decrease in initial concentration. Best fixed-bed column...