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Removal of inorganic and organic phosphorus compounds from aqueous solution by ferrihydrite decoration onto graphene

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Abstract

Existing research on phosphorus removal from wastewater mostly focused on inorganic phosphorus while ignoring organic phosphorus, which has potential bioavailability. This study aims to provide an innovation for the development of advanced treatment material for both inorganic and organic phosphorus removal in water. In this study, ferrihydrite loaded on the graphene oxide (FeOOH-GO) composite adsorbent was synthesized by surface precipitation method, and its ability to remove both phosphate and diazinon as forms of inorganic and organic phosphorous from water was investigated. Characterization of the loaded composite using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated that FeOOH was successfully loaded onto graphene. The results of batch adsorption experiments showed that the adsorbent could remove both inorganic and organic phosphorus compounds simultaneously from water. When FeOOH content is 40%, the equilibrium adsorption amount of FeOOH-GO composite adsorbent for phosphate and diazinon was 5.81 and 23.20 mg g−1, respectively. Environmental parameters such as pH and initial concentration have important influence on phosphorus removal by FeOOH-GO composite adsorbent and the removal efficiency of the inorganic and organic phosphorus from water decreases by increasing the initial concentration of phosphate and diazinon and the pH. It was concluded that the FeOOH-GO composite adsorbent has great potential to remove both inorganic and organic phosphate simultaneously from contaminated water.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0800600) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41877461).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River) Ministry of Agriculture, College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Xuguang Li, Abdelbaky Hossam Elgarhy & Guanglong Liu

  2. Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring (CLEQM), National Water Research Center (NWRC), P.O. Box 13621/6, El-Kanater, Egypt

    Abdelbaky Hossam Elgarhy & Reham ElKorashey

  3. Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

    Mohamed Elfatih Hassan

  4. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Yanbo Chen

Authors
  1. Xuguang Li
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  2. Abdelbaky Hossam Elgarhy
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  3. Mohamed Elfatih Hassan
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  4. Yanbo Chen
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  5. Guanglong Liu
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  6. Reham ElKorashey
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Correspondence to Abdelbaky Hossam Elgarhy or Guanglong Liu.

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Li, X., Elgarhy, A.H., Hassan, M.E. et al. Removal of inorganic and organic phosphorus compounds from aqueous solution by ferrihydrite decoration onto graphene. Environ Monit Assess 192, 410 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08325-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08325-y

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