• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.162-167
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• 2012

The removal of orthophosphate ions from aqueous solutions by the anion exchange resin in the form of $Cl^-$ ion was investigated to elucidate the ion exchange mechanism which depends on the forms of orhthophoshate ions. In addition, the effects of alkalinity and other common anions were studied. The results showed that the orhthophosphate ions with the oxidation state of 2 and 3 ($HPO{_4}^{2-}$ and $PO{_4}^{3-}$) were effectively removed by the anion exchange resin, whereas the part of the $H_2PO_4{^-}$ ion passed through the ion exchange column. This suggested that the affinity of $H_2PO_4{^-}$ to the ion exchange resin was comparable with that of $Cl^-$ ion. In all cases, the effluent pHs have shown to be much lower than the calculated values, indicating that more $Cl^-$ ions than the orthophosphate equivalents in the influent were eluded. As the alkalinity increases, the decrease in pH was minimized. When the alkalinity was 100 mg/L ($CaCO_3$) or greater, 100 mg/L orthophosphate ions including $H_2PO_4{^-}$ were completely removed. The common anions such as $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ were also removed by the anion exchange resin, and thus decreased the ion exchange capacity for the removal of orthophosphate.