Efficient phosphorus removal from MBR effluent with heated aluminum oxide particles (HAOPs)

Laboratory tests using both synthetic feed and the effluent from an MBR at a full-scale wastewater treatment plant showed that the process could remove P very efficiently until the HAOP’s capacity was nearly exhausted, at which point rapid breakthrough of P occurred. The removal capacity was proportional to the thickness of the HAOPs layer and was affected only slightly by competing adsorbates in the feed, solution pH, and the flux of water through the adsorbent layer, at least up to 600 LMH. In 18 days of continuous pilot-scale operation at the treatment plant, the process performed well, achieving 99.5% P removal steadily during the final seven days of testing. The process also removed approximately 52% of the organic matter in the MBR effluent, as represented by UV254. The sludge generated by the process was extremely easy to dewater and dry.