Simultaneous Recovery of Ammonium and Phosphate from Leachate by Using Activated Zeolite

Abstract

Ammonium and phosphate in leachate are potentially to contaminate both surface and groundwater. Zeolite has a high affinity so it can be used as an adsorbent for ammonium (NH4+), phosphate (PO43-) and other organic compounds. This research work aims to eliminate these pollutants stimulatingly by using activated zeolite. Leachate used for this experiment has initial ammonium concentration of 508.2 mg/L, and phosphate concentration of 7.77 mg/L. The zeolite has particle size of 100 mesh. Adsorption experiments were carried out with physically activated zeolite and physic-chemical activated zeolite with a dose variation of 15-120 g/L with a contact time of 12 hours. The results showed that a physical activated zeolite dosage of 120 g/L results in the smallest concentration of ammonium residue of 72.6 mg/L and a phosphate residue of 0.37 mg/L. The 45 g/L chemically-physically activated zeolite dose of 45 g/L produces an ammonium residue of 198 mg/L and phosphate residue of 0.74 mg/L. The ammonium adsorption with the both activated zeolites can be described very well using the 1st order kinetics model.