A hybrid adsorbent of nanoscale zirconium molybdate with a commercial macroporous anion exchange resin (ZMAE) was introduced for selective removal of phosphate from aqueous solution (containing excess sulfate ion). The ZMAE was characterized with high uniform and low agglomeration of zirconium molybdate nanoparticles (NPs) (&lt; 10 nm in diameter) dispersed within the anion exchanger resin (AE). As major results, the ZMAE showed a much greater selectivity and efficiency toward phosphate than a hybrid of hydrated zirconium oxide embedded AE resin or the pristine AE resin (in the presence of high sulfate concentration). In addition, the selectivity of the ZMAE for phosphate ion relative to sulfate ion (SP/S) was found to be more than 107 times of the AE. It was also found that the Mo content is much more important than that of Zr content for determining phosphate selectivity. Fixed-bed column adsorption showed that the volume capacity for effective phosphate removal (2 mg/L of P-PO4) by ZMAE was achieved about 3600 BVs (&lt; 0.5 mg/L of P-PO4), which was remarkably greater than that of the pristine AE resin (&lt; 70 BVs). The interaction between phosphate with molybdate and surface hydroxyl group of the NPs, supported by FTIR and XPS analysis, is mainly explained to be responsible for the selective removal of phosphate ion.

Development of nanoscale zirconium molybdate embedded anion exchange resin for selective removal of phosphate

254th National Meeting (2017)

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