Effectiveness and Mechanism of the In Situ Formed Iron Hydroxide (FeOxHy) towards the Removal of Phosphate by Coagulation and Adsorption
This study prepares the in situ formed iron hydroxide (In situ FeOxHy) by the interactions between Fe3+ and OH- at different molar ratios of 1:0,1:1,1:2,and 1:3, and investigates the performance and mechanism involved in the removal of phosphate. The removal efficiency increases with elevated doses of FeOxHy and the maximum removal is observed to be in neutral pH ranges. The elevated ratios of OH- to Fe3+ inhibit the removal of phosphate whereas at low alkalinity,the introduction of OH- shows beneficial effects. The abovementioned four kinds of FeOxHy can rapidly adsorb most phosphate within 15 s, and the adsorption process can be well described by the Pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Freundlich model can well describe the adsorption of phosphorus onto these four FeOxHy. The adsorption of phosphate significantly decreases the zeta potential of these in situ FeOxHy. The MINITEQ software can indicate the species distribution of phosphate and iron salts, and the theoretical calculation indicates that the introduced OH- can promote the hydrolysis of Fe3+ especially in low alkalinity system,which can easily adsorb H2PO4- and HPO42- and form the multinuclear hydroxy iron phosphate complexes thereafter.