Performance efficiency of sand media amended with biochar for phosphorus removal using column filtration

Abstract

Increase of phosphorus concentrations from wastewater could cause a significant impact on water quality deterioration. Thus, it is crucial to regulate nutrient concentrations from wastewater effluents before the effluents are discharged to the environment. Establishment of wastewater treatment is one of the solutions. This study investigated the efficiency of column filtration using sand media amended with biochar to remove phosphorus in the laboratory scale. The experimental design consisted of 6 packed columns based on the proportion of biochar in the sand media (0 - 25%). The columns were fed with 100 mL phosphate solution (10 mg/L) at the flow rate of 66.6 mL/h. The same steps were also performed using a combination of PO43--P (10 mg/L) and NH4+-N (10 mg/L) solution. The results showed that phosphate concentration in the outflow decreased smoothly and in line with the increase of biochar percentage in the sand media. Removal efficiency of PO43--P ranged from 60.9 - 80.9 % and 35.9 - 44.2 % for media loaded PO43--P and combination of PO43- -P and NH4+-N (1:1). It means that the availability of biochar in the media influenced the amount of phosphorus adsorbed into media.