Elevated phosphate concentrations from different urban and agriculture sources can lead to eutrophication problems when they enter freshwater systems. We hypothesize that MnO2 sorbents can be an economical material for green stormwater infrastructure technology. MnO2 can be used to sorb phosphate from runoff in a prefiltration step before urban stormwater enters a sewer drain or agricultural tile drainage enters the drainage ditch. One technology that has gained a lot of recent attention is the use of catch basin inserts. Catch basin inserts are the prefilters used to remove sediments and pollutants from the runoff water, often at construction sites. Sediments from the storm are filtered by the sediment trap on the upper layer of the catch basin insert, Different stages of filter media material can target pollutants of interest through adsorption processes. In this research work, we have synthesized MnO2 coated fabric as the filtration media to remove phosphates from water. Batch experiments with a synthetic phosphate solution (110 ppm PO4) was used to test the adsorption efficacy of the MnO2 coated polypropylene fabric. MnO2 coated fabric showed a better performance when compared to the commercially available phosphate filter media. The Freundlich adsorption isotherm fit suggests cooperative adsorption and kinetic studies determined that sorption followed second-order kinetics. Thermodynamic calculations confirm spontaneous sorption of phosphate to MnO2. Another application of MnO2 coated fabric is being developed to concentrate P-32 and P-33 isotopes from runoff and other water samples to enable quantification of the isotopic ratios that may allow for identification of various sources (.e.g., urban, rural) in a freshwater system will also be presented.

MnO2 coated fabric: Usage as a phosphate sorbent filter media for stormwater treatment and isotopic tracer studies

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.