Use of Cork Oak Bark for Phosphorous Removal from Wastewater

The feasibility of using cork oak bark for phosphorus removal from wastewater was evaluated in this study. Recently, development of more cost-effective media while maintaining high efficiency in pollutants removal has received concern. Barks have a negative surface charge and, hence, tend to show a high affinity to bind cations, and they need to undergo chemical modification to increase their adsorption capacity of anions. Bark was hydrolyzed by HCl solution and it received modification using an aqueous solution of high molecular weight polyethylenimine(PEI). Surface modification with HCl and PEI resulted in a decrease of specific surface area of the bark from $1.932 m^2/g$ to $1.094 m^2/g$. The adsorption experiments were carried out in batch tests and the data were fitted to the Langmuir isotherm and Freundlich isotherm equations. Phosphate removal rate was higher at the lower solution pH possibly due to the form of phosphate ion in solution. For the initial phosphate concentration of 10 mg/L, maximum adsorption was 20.88 mg P/g at pH 3 and 12.02 mg P/g at pH 5. Mechanism of phosphorus sorption onto the HCl-PEI bark was examined through FT-IR spectrometer. Ion exchange between $NH^+$ and $H_2PO_4{^-}$ appeared to be a key mechanism of phosphate adsorption onto the HCl-PEI bark surface.

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