Removal of boron from wastewater by the hydroxyapatite formation reaction using acceleration effect of ammonia

Distribution characteristics and migration pathways of metals during hydrothermal liquefaction of municipal sewage sludge in the presence of various catalysts

A series of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) experiments with two different samples of municipal sewage sludge (MSS) were conducted at 350 °C for 30 min residence time in a high pressure batch reactor. The main aim of the study was to explore the distribution and migration pathways of a broad range of metals and metalloids in the HTL products (bio-oil, char and aqueous phase) obtained in the presence of various homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts (Na2CO3, Li2CO3, K2CO3, Ba(OH)2, Fe2O3, CeO2, NiMo/MoO3, MoS2, Ni/NiO, SnO2, FeS). The elements under study included 16 environmentally significant metals and metalloids (As, B, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Zn and Hg). The study showed that the quantitative migration of the tested metals and metalloids to the particular HTL products, relative to their initial content in the raw sludge, is different for the individual elements. Most metals exhibited a particularly strong affinity to the solid fraction (biochar). In the obtained HTL bio-oils, all tested elements were identified, except of Cd. It was also found that B and As have high affinity to the aqueous phase. A direct effect of catalysts on the contents of some elements in the products was also proved by the study, e.g. increased concentration of Cr in the biochar when Fe2O3 was used as a process catalyst. Due to the wide scope of the tested elements and broad range of catalyst used, the results obtained represent a unique and comprehensive set of environmental data compared to similar HTL studies previously conducted for MSS.

Removal of Borate Ions from Wastewater Using an Adsorbent Prepared from Waste Concrete (PAdeCS)

The removal of boron from model wastewater using PAdeCS, a material derived from waste concrete, was studied. Three different types of boron removal methods were examined: adsorption with untreated PAdeCS, adsorption with heat-treated ettringite-enriched PAdeCS, and coagulation-sedimentation method by mixing untreated PAdeCS as a calcium source and aluminum sulfate as an aluminum and sulfate ion source for the formation of ettringite. The highest boron removal performance was observed for the coagulation-sedimentation method, where the boron concentration in the model wastewater decreased rapidly from 100 mg/L to the level below the Japanese effluent standard at 10 mg/L when the weight ratio of PAdeCS addition into water is 4.0% with aluminum sulfate, of which the added amount corresponds to the stoichiometric condition for the formation of ettringite (Ca:Al:SO₄ ^2- = 6:2:3). The heat-treated ettringite-enriched PAdeCS also showed higher boron removal performances compared with untreated PAdeCS. The dependency of the boron removal capacity on the aqueous boron concentration can be expressed by the Langmuir equation for all the cases. The maximum capacity (q _m) values were 1.83, 3.39, and 3.02 mg/g-solid for adsorption with untreated PAdeCS, adsorption with heat-treated ettringite-enriched PAdeCS, and coagulation-sedimentation, respectively. These capacities were higher or comparable with the ones reported in the literature.

Phosphorus Co-Existing in Water: A New Mechanism to Boost Boron Removal by Calcined Oyster Shell Powder

The removal of boron (B) from water by co-precipitation with hydroxyapatite (HAP) has been extensively studied due to its low cost, ease of use and high efficiency. However, there is no explicit mechanism to express how resolved B was trapped by HAP. Thus, in this work, the process of removing B from water was studied using a low-cost calcium (Ca) precipitation agent derived from used waste oyster shells. The results showed that the removal rate of B in the simulated wastewater by calcined oyster shell (COS) in the presence of phosphorus (P) is up to more than 90%, as opposed to virtually no removal without phosphate. For B removal, the treated water needs to be an alkaline solution with a high pH above 12, where B is removed as [CaB(OH)4]+ but is not molecular. Finally, the synergistic mechanism of co-precipitation between HAP and dissolved B, occlusion co-precipitation, was explained in detail. The proposed method discovered the relationship between Ca, P and B, and was aimed at removing B without secondary pollution through co-precipitation.

Stabilization of borate by hot isostatic pressing after co-precipitation with hydroxyapatite using MAP

Boric acid is one of the most mobile inorganic contaminant species in nature due to its pK_a of 9.23. Co-precipitation of borate with hydroxyapatite (HAp: Ca₅(PO₄)₃OH) facilitates the simultaneous removal of borate with co-existing oxoanions in natural waters. The cost of phosphate is an impediment to industrialize the co-precipitation of borate with HAp for treatment of geothermal waters. In the present work, an inexpensive industrial by-product of magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) derived from sewage sludge, was examined as a phosphate source. MAP includes 89% pure magnesium ammonium phosphate, resulting in better performance than the pure chemical form of NH₄H₂PO₄, because Mg²⁺ and Al³⁺ (trace elements in MAP product) play roles in enhancing the removal rate of borate and lowering the equilibrium borate concentration. These ions have a good affinity with phosphate to nucleate crystal seeds independently of powdery Ca sources. To reduce the bulky volume of solid residues, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was applied. There is structural water in HAp; therefore, the greatest volume reduction was achieved with 78.3 ± 2.0% (n = 3). Additionally, a synergic effect to suppress the released borate, greater than the sequential combination of calcination and cold isostatic pressing was accomplished in the toxicity contents leaching procedure (TCLP) test. This is not due to larger crystal sizes alone, but it is derived from boron stabilization in HAp at an atomic level by the synergic effect of heating and pressing simultaneously.

Boron incorporation into precipitated calcium carbonates affected by aqueous pH and boron concentration

The objectives of this study were to investigate the amount of B incorporation into precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) in the coprecipitation process, and to determine specific mineral phases (calcite or vaterite) and the mode of B coordination (trigonal or tetrahedral) in PCC under different pH and B concentrations. The amount of B incorporation into PCC increased in general with increasing aqueous B (B_aq) concentrations in the pH range from 8 to 12. The B removal by PCC reached maximum (∼200 mmol kg^-1) at pH 10 with B_aq concentrations between 30 and 50 mM. The transformation of vaterite to calcite was promoted with increasing B_aq at pH 8 and 10, whereas an excess concentration of aqueous (poly)borate anions (100 mM) inhibited crystal growth of calcite. As determined by B K-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, the coordination of B incorporated in PCC was preferentially tetrahedral (^IVB, 55-70%) over trigonal (^IIIB, 30-45%) at B_aq <75 mM. In contrast, the preferential incorporation of ^IVB into PCC was not observed in the solution with a high B concentration (i.e., 100 mM). The amount of B incorporation, the morphology of PCC and B coordination in PCC were remarkably changed in high B_aq concentrations.

Calcination effect of borate-bearing hydroxyapatite on the mobility of borate

Discharge from accidental nuclear power plants includes boric acid, which is used as a neutron absorbent in nuclear reactors. Co-precipitation of borate with hydroxyapatite (HAp), using Ca(OH)₂, is known to be an effectively fast method for stabilization of borate as well as coexisting radioactive nuclides. To reduce bulky volume of solid residues after co-precipitation, calcination is necessary to investigate the chemical stability of targets. Calcination at 850°C resulted in the high crystalization of HAp with formation of xCaO·B₂O₃ as a by-phase in which x increased with a decrease in the borate contents. After calcination, the lattice parameter a of HAp showed a reentrant curve and c showed a convex curve with an increase in borate contents. A dissolution assay revealed that calcination sometimes increases the borate moiety and that the acceptable B contents in HAp are lower than 1.59mmol/g-calcined HAp. These results imply that during calcination of HAp, some borate is excluded to form the by-phase xCaO·B₂O₃, which is relatively insoluble in water, but some other fractions might be additionally emitted from the amorphous phase to weakly bind the calcined products.

Effect of competing ions and causticization on the ammonia adsorption by a novel poly ligand exchanger (PLE) ammonia adsorption reagent

In this paper, a poly ligand exchanger, Cu(II)-loaded chelating resin named ammonia adsorption reagent (AMAR), bearing the functional group of weak iminodiacetate acid, was prepared to efficiently remove ammonia from solutions. Batch adsorption equilibrium experiments were conducted under a range of conditions. The effects of pH on the removal of ammonia by AMAR were investigated at 25 °C. The copper loaded on the resin forms a complex with NH₃ in solution under alkaline condition. The effect of alkaline dosage (AD) on the ammonia adsorption was investigated. The maximum breakthrough bed volumes were obtained when the AD was set as 0.75 mmol OH^-/mL. The higher AD did not guarantee the better ammonia removal efficiency due to the forming of Cu(OH)₂ precipitate between OH^- in solutions and Cu(II) on the resin. The effect of competing ions on the adsorption breakthrough curve of virgin AMAR and causticized AMAR was also investigated. The results demonstrated that the existence of competing ions had a negative impact on the adsorption capacity for both virgin AMAR and causticized AMAR. After causticization, the AMAR was more resistant to the competing ions comparing with virgin AMAR. The bivalent Ca²⁺ affects the ammonia adsorption more than does the monovalent Na⁺.

A novel chemical oxo-precipitation (COP) process for efficient remediation of boron wastewater at room temperature

Chemical oxo-precipitation (COP), which combines treatment with an oxidant and precipitation using metal salts, was developed for treating boron-containing water under milder conditions (room temperature, pH 10) than those of conventional coagulation processes. The concentration of boron compounds was 1000mg-BL(-1). They included boric acid (H3BO3) and perborate (NaBO3). Precipitation using calcium chloride eliminated 80% of the boron from the perborate solution, but was unable to treat boric acid. COP uses hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to pretreat boric acid, substantially increasing the removal of boron from boric acid solution by chemical precipitation from less than 5% to 80%. Furthermore, of alkaline earth metals, barium ions are the most efficient precipitant, and can increase the 80% boron removal to 98.5% at [H2O2]/[B] and [Ba]/[B] molar ratios of 2 and 1, respectively. The residual boron in the end water of COP contained 15ppm-B: this value cannot be achieved using conventional coagulation processes.