Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008WA239B

Towards Sustainable Phosphorus Removal: Evaluating Biogenic Iron Oxides for Renewable Filtration

Institute: Washington
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-03-01 End Date: 2009-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $25,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $50,000

Principal Investigators: Jeremy Rentz, David Yonge

Project Summary: Achieving phosphorus discharge regulations is a principle concern for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment operations, particularly with the current trend toward increasingly stringent phosphorus limits. Current phosphorus treatment strategies are poor treatment options when discharge limits significantly less than 1.0 mg P/L are required, as is likely the case for many phosphorus TMDLs nationwide. Alternative treatment methods utilizing iron-oxide rich matrices effectively remove phosphorus from water, but extended long term use is limited by finite removal capacities. This project will evaluate biogenic iron oxides, a potentially regenerable phosphorus filter matrix for sustainable phosphorus removal. The objective of this project is to evaluate phosphorus removal by biogenic iron oxides in order to determine feasibility as a wastewater treatment alternative. Two specific tasks will be completed to accomplish this objective: (1) characterize sorption of phosphorus to biogenic iron oxides and (2) determine phosphorus release from biogenic iron oxides. The rationale for these studies is that a fundamental understanding of the interactions between biologically produced iron oxides and phosphorus will provide a strong foundation for future studies designed to transfer this innovative treatment scheme to full scale applications.