Abstract

In the last fewyears the idea of circular economy has become essential. Thus, designing methods of nutrients removal should be based on usingmaterials that make it possible to recover those nutrients. Recently,methods applied in wastewater treatment plants cannot provide optimal results; moreover, the application of commercial coagulants like ferric chloride and polyaluminumchloride can cause difficulties in potential recovery of phosphorus fromsludge. Sorption materials, both natural and modified, are appearing as successful forwastewater treatment, especially for treatment wetland effluent. To pursue circular economy principles, the capacity of waste materials needs to be testedwith regard to nutrients removal. If in addition a possibility to recover themappears, it will be possible to close the circuit. The aim of the investigation, according to HELCOM and EU Water Framework Directive recommendations, was to explore the possibility of ensuring good and stable quality of effluent by the application of natural materials for phosphorous removal with possible minimum energy and material consumption. The objective was to determine the sorption capacity of two selected materials (waste material and chemicallymodified material) in steady conditions. The research focused also on the time ofmixing, a period of sedimentation of absorbent materials, and the influence of usedmaterials on the basic parameters of the solution: pH, temperature, total suspended solids, conductivity, turbidity, and color. M1 was a waste material after thermal treatment of carbonate-siliceous rock in temperature above 700 °C (Rockfos®). Material M2 was lanthanum-modified bentonite, a material of anthropogenic origin. Both selected materials have shown a high ability to reduce phosphates concentration in synthetic wastewater. Sorption capacity of materials M1 and M2 were 45.6 mg/g and 5.6 mg/g, respectively.

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