Replacing the lost Phosphates from different ecosystems is not a question it’s an onus. This none replaceable and renewable resource is one of the vital nutrients where without it, cells, crops and human beings cannot function and live. Though available in environment, its natural cycle is disturbed as its need especially in agriculture sector increases significantly. Phosphorus recovery from waste water sorbents is one of the innovative and promising concepts. The core goal of this paper is to evaluate the phosphorus desorbing capacity of two reactive materials (waste water sorbents) using chemical extracts. The experimental work emphasized on investigation four extracts, HNO3, NaHCO3, P-AL and H2O on phosphate desorption capacity of two inorganic reactive materials namely Polonite® and Sorbulite® which are widely known for their high P-sorption capacity. The kinetics and desorption were examined in batch experiments and consequently the plant availability were investigated using Flow Injection Analyzing (FIA) spectroscopy (wet chemistry) method. The maximum average orthophosphate desorption at 100 rpp for 48 hrs was interpreted to be 33.12 mg g−1and 3.11 mg g−1 from Sorbulite® and Polonite® respectively using 4M HNO3 extract. The orthophosphate desorption characteristic using the above extracts tended to decrease in the following order HNO3 ≤ P-AL ≤ NaHCO3 ≤ H2O. Polonite® shows a higher recovery potential, where almost 6 times higher ammonium lactate (AL)-extractable P was observed when compared with Sorbulite®. Batch experiment was proved to be a tool for investigating and evaluating Phosphorus desorption capacity of mineral-based filter materials.

The nutrients available in urine make it a good resource as fertilizer. Limited availability of natural phosphorus (P) is compelling people to think about recovering and returning it back to the land from waste stream. Urine comprising the majority of nitrogen (N) and P among other household wastewater, if managed separately, will benefit human against expensive commercial fertilizers, and eventually will reduce environmental problems. Various reactive filter systems have been studied since late 90’s as a potential system to recover N & P from urine and wastewater as a whole. Most studies are however limited to the laboratory scale only. Optimization of such technologies is one of the prime focuses in this area of research. This thesis project used the combination of two sorptive reactive materials, namely mordenite and polonite, to remove NH4-N and PO4-P from the source separated human urine. This two months laboratory scale study recommends dilution and storage to be a minimum pretreatment for urine. However as the influent’s NH4-N concentration was extremely high, further dilution or other relevant pretreatment is recommended. In overall, mordenite materials performed better for NH4-N removal reaching as high as 79% whereas polonite materials showed better results for PO4-P removal and the efficiency was as high as 97%. The reduction in NH4-N might also be due to the conversion of nitrogen into other forms. Mordenite materials showed a good potential for PO4-P removal and was up to 88% efficient initially. Both materials did not show the tendency of breakthrough for PO4-P until the end. The salinity measured as electric conductivity was reduced by both materials until about initial half-time period of the experiment. Since mordenite was the first unit to face the highly concentrated urine, it got saturated earlier and started showing the fluctuations in reduction and release for nutrients. The results obtained in this study provide the positive scenario for it to be implemented in the full scale system. However more elaborated studies in full scale addressing the major limitation of this project needs to be done before introducing the system for public uses.

Literature reviews and laboratory work were used to examine the phosphorus removal efficiency of the reactive filter material Polonite®. This material is produced from the calcium carbonate and silica based rock Opoka. The thesis mainly focuses on adsorption of phosphorus from wastewater with Polonite® but also discuss the possibilities of recycling the filter and the adsorbed phosphorus back into agriculture. This would be beneficial to the environment and a path to a sustainable use of phosphorus. It is important to reduce the employment of phosphorus because of the upcoming “Peak Phosphorus” and the negative impact that an excess of the nutrient has on water bodies. The two main objectives of this thesis were to evaluate and display the phosphorus sorption capacity of Polonite® in a breakthrough curve and to obtain adsorption isotherms of phosphorus on Polonite®.  To achieve these objectives experiments were performed in a pilot-plant and in a laboratory at Hammarby Sjöstadsverk. A 500 kg Polonite® filter was connected to flow of wastewater of 400 L/hr and samples were collected and analyzed regularly. The filter did not perform as well as expected, having already shown promising results in other experiments. This is most likely due to the high flow of wastewater and to a too short residence time. The phosphorus reduction was down to 60 % after approximately 30 days and a breakthrough was noticed after 53 days. When saturated, the filter contained 0.6 kg of phosphorus, the equivalent of a sorption capacity of 0.12 %. The pH in the effluent from the Polonite® filter was 10.2 at the first measurement but then dropped fast. When the filter was saturated the pH was down to 8.7. The breakthrough curve gave some indications of that the saturated Polonite® filter might be able to release adsorbed phosphorus. It was also concluded that the Polonite® filter was acting mainly by sorption and thus reduced the dissolved, but not much of the particular, phosphorus.Equilibrium experiments were conducted using solutions with different concentrations of phosphorus. 1 g of Polonite® was added to each solution which was then stirred. With the help of adsorption isotherms the maximum loading capacity was estimated at 330 mg of phosphorus per gram of Polonite®. This corresponds to a 33 % capacity and is a very high number.    Recommendations for future studies would be to further examine the wastewater residence time in the Polonite® filter to improve sorption capacity of phosphorus. It could also be interesting to redo the equilibrium experiments to obtain a more probable loading capacity. The possible presence of pharmaceuticals and/or heavy metals in the filter is also important to investigate, as is the economic aspect of the employment of Polonite® filters for removal of phosphorus from wastewater.

Eutrofieringen av Östersjön är omfattande och ses i dag som ett av områdets allvarligaste föroreningsproblem. Orsaken till detta är en förhöjd näringsbelastning av kväve och fosfor. Den ökade näringsbelastningen beror på att de naturliga flödena av dessa näringsämnen har rubbats, vilket är en direkt följd av urbaniseringen. Sveriges enskilda avlopp står för 16% av den totala fosforbelastningen till Östersjön. År 2006 skärptes de svenska riktvärdena för fosforbelastning från enskilda avloppsanläggningar. Nästan en tredjedel av dagens 625 000 enskilda avloppsanläggningar klarar inte dessa skärpta krav. Som ett led i detta har forskning och utveckling inom ämnesområdet bedrivits under de senaste 20 åren. Forskningen har resulterat i nya effektivare avloppsreningstekniker där så kallade reaktiva filtermaterial används som fosforfälla. Gemensamt för de reaktiva filtermaterial som har utvecklats är dess höga kalciumhalt och stora specifika fastläggningsytor, vilket vid höga pH-värden skapar förutsättning för en hög fosforfastläggningen. Den reaktiva filtermaterialstekniken möjliggör ett resurseffektivt användande av fosfor då recirkulation av grundämnet möjliggörs. Syftet med detta kandidatexamensarbete har varit att undersöka om livslängden för två olika reaktiva filtermaterial kan förlängas genom en dualfilterteknik. En teknik där fosforfällan består av två olika reaktiva filtermaterial med olika egenskaper. Hypotesen har varit att en dualfilterteknik kan minska kalciumutlakningen från filtret. De två dualfilter som har undersökts är Polonite®–Sorbulite® och Argon oxygen decarburisation–Hyttsand. Arbetet har utförts som en kolonnstudie. De viktigaste analyserna som har genomförts är alkalinitet och kalciumutlakning. Arbetes slutsatser listas nedan: o Det dualfilter som har visat bäst förutsättningar som långvarig fosforfälla i enskilda avloppsanläggningar är Polonite®–Sorbulite®. o Materialet Sorbulite® har visat sig kunna minska kalciumutlakningen, vilket bekräftar studiens hypotes. Arbetets resultat pekar på att Sorbulite® kan användas för att förlänga filterlivslängden för det reaktiva filtermaterialet Polonite® . o Materialet Hyttsand uppvisar ingen förmåga till att kunna samla upp utlakade kalciumfraktioner. Detta medför att Hyttsand ej är ett lämpligt material i ett dualfilter där syftet är att förlänga filtrets livslängd.

This thesis focused on testing the suitability of reactive filter media used for phosphorus (P) removal from wastewater as fertilizers, thus recycling P to agriculture. The work compared the P sorption capacity of several materials in order to assess their suitability as a source of P for plants. The selected materials (Filtra P, Polonite and wollastonite) were saturated with P and used as soil amendments in a pot experiment. The amendments tended to improve the yield of barley and ryegrass compared with no P addition. The amendments also increased soil pH, P availability and cation exchange capacity in the studied soils. The substrates studied here can be of particular interest for acid soils. Of the materials studied, Polonite appears to be the most suitable substrate for the recycling of P from wastewater to agriculture / QC 20101103

Phosphorous and nitrogen are vital elements for the well-being of biological life. Industrial discharges, waste water infiltration systems, conventional waste water collection and treatment systems, agricultural runoffs and landfill leachates had been emitting significant quantity of these nutrients into water bodies. These induced negative consequences to the environment including eutrophication of aquatic water bodies, toxicity to marine life and depletion of phosphate resources. Reactive filter technology is developed based on the need to remove and retain nutrients from waste water while improving the quality of effluents from emission sources. Reactive filter materials are used to build filter bed systems that treats domestic waste water, storm water, landfill leachates and contaminated subsurface water to the desired quality. In the past natural minerals such as zeolites and industrially produced polonite had been subject to laboratory study for the sorption of ammonium, heavy metals and phosphorous. The following paper is based on the results of experiment consisting of two columns packed with mordenite and polonite reactive materials filtering in series to reduce NH4 and PO4 content of a waste water. Septic tank effluent pre filtered using 0.45 μm filter is used as influent waste water into the dual columns. The dual column filtered a total of 24.07l s (372PV) and 23.42 ls (496PV) of the waste water. Sampling of the feed water and filtrates of both columns were done every second day with measurement of pH, conductivity and temperature. Analyzed samples confirmed that the dual column filtration resulted in re-moval efficiency of 84.39 % (PO4), 67.98 % (NH4) and -37.762.8 % (NOx). Filtration in the first (mordenite) column resulted in relatively larger proportion of the influent ammonium ion exchange than sorption of phosphate while the filtration in the second (polonite) column sorbed quite high amount of phosphorous than ammonium from effluent of the first column. Saturation of mordenite occurred faster even though there was sorption potential for few more of influent ammonium. All PO4 removal in mordenite column occurred above breakthrough condition. Polonite packed column was in a condition of a third of it’s saturation potential for PO4 removal at the end of the experiment. pH of samples was the parameter which is correlated significantly with filtration in polonite column than temperature and electrical conductivity. The performance of polonite was higher at higher pH than at lower pH. The mean concentrations of the dual column effluent were 0.77 mg-PO4/l and 11.13 mg-NH4/l. This is acceptable by the standards of environmental laws. The result of the experiment is valuable in prediction of performance and designing of real time filter bed.

Organohalogen compounds are formed in swimming pool waters when natural organic matter, such as hair, urine or sweat etc., react with the used disinfectant (usually chlorine). Many of the organohalogen compounds are persistent and hazardous for human health and aquatic ecosystems. Backwash water from swimming pool facilities is often released to the sewer and contain these compounds. The connected wastewater treatment plant receives this water, where some of these compounds escapes the treatment process, into the recipient. It is therefore important to minimize the levels of organohalogen compounds in the influent water to the wastewater treatment plant. In this study, potential treatment techniques for organohalogen compounds at the swimming pool facility have been investigated. The main focus have been on an experimental column test with four filter materials applied (granular activated carbon, natural zeolites, PoloniteR and Zugol). Real backwash water was used. Furthermore, other techniques have been theoretically investigated as well. The activated carbon directly showed the most efficient removal efficiency (above 95 %), but all filter materials had a removal to a certain degree and became more efficient by time. The results further suggest that the more lipophilic organohalogen compounds are bound to particulate matter and highly affected by physical filtration. Another important conclusion is that the specific activated carbon used in the study is not suitable for the purpose, because it released very high levels of phosphorus in the beginning of the column test as well as showing some practical problems. However, other types of activated carbon exists. Next step recommended is to determine the lifetime of the filters. / När människor badar i bassänger hamnar vanligtvis naturligt organiskt material i dem, såsom urin, svett, hår och hudflagor. Desinfektionsmedlet som tillsätts (oftast klor) har som syfte att avlägsna mikroorganismer, men när naturligt organiskt material hamnar i vattnet kommer också oavsiktliga reaktioner ske och halogenerade organiska föreningar bildas. Dessa föreningar kan kvantifieras via AOX måttet (adsorberbar organisk halogen), vilket är den samlade förekomsten av alla bundna organiska halogener i ett prov. AOX består således av flera hundra olika föreningar, varav vissa är mer lipofila och benämns EOX (extraherbar organisk halogen). Många av de föreningar inkluderade i AOX är bioackumulativa, persistenta och giftiga för akvatiska organismer, även i låga koncentrationer. Förutom att vara miljöfarliga för akvatiska ekosystem, kan de också vara skadliga för människans hälsa. Filtret som renar badvattnet i simhallar behöver backspolas regelbundet och backspolvattnet, som innehåller AOX, skickas vanligen till spillvattennätet. Vid avloppsreningsverket är det visat i ett tidigare examensarbete samt i andra rapporter att en del av de inkommande AOX ämnena även följer med det utgående, renade, vattnet ut i recipienten. Det är därmed av vikt att minimera ämnena redan vid källan, det vill säga på badanläggningen. I denna masteruppsats har behandlingstekniker för halogenerade organiska föreningar undersökts. Huvudfokus har varit på experimentella kolonntester för fyra filtermaterial (granulerat aktivt kol, naturliga zeoliter, PoloniteR och Zugol), men även andra tekniker har studerats teoretiskt. I testerna användes äkta backspolvatten från en simhall. Alla material reducerade AOX till viss del och visade på effektivare reducering efter hand. Det var dock tydligt att det aktiva kolet var mest effektivt och hade hög reducering redan i första mätningen, AOX-reduceringen låg på över 95 % (jämfört med det obehandlade backspolvattnet). Vad som dock var problematiskt med det aktiva kolet var att det släppte höga halter fosfor i början av kolonntestet, vilket också bekräftades med ett skaktest. Dessutom uppvisade materialet praktiska problem. Ur ett realistiskt perspektiv med dessa problem i åtanke, blir det inte hållbart i längden att använda detta specifika kol. Det finns dock många olika typer av aktivt kol, vilka förmodligen är mer lämpliga och som inte uppvisar dessa problem, och kan användas för detta ändamål. Vidare antyder det erhållna resultatet att de mer lipofila föreningarna av AOX (EOX) är bundet till partikulärt organiskt material och därmed påverkas väsentligt av mekanisk filtrering. Det är dock viktigt med en aktiv bindning. Projektet har påverkats av covid-19 pandemin med lägre antal folk på badhusen samt mindre tillgång till laboratoriet vid KTH. En föreslagen förbättring av metoden är att ha en kontinuerlig omblandning i förvaringskärlet med det obehandlade vattnet innan det tillförs kolonnerna. Vidare nämns det att modifierade zeoliter verkar lovande samt att nästa viktiga steg för projektet är att bestämma livstiden för filtermaterialen.

This thesis studied the viability of recycling filter substrates as soil amendments after being used in on-site systems for phosphorus (P) removal from wastewater. Focus was put on the materials Filtra P and Polonite, which are commercial products used in compact filters in Sweden. A prerequisite for this choice was to review filter materials and P sorption capacity. The filter substrates (Filtra P, Polonite and wollastonite tailings) were recycled from laboratory infiltration columns as soil amendments to a neutral agricultural soil and to an acid meadow soil to study their impacts on soil properties and yield of barley and ryegrass. The amendments tended to improve the yield and showed a liming effect, significantly increasing soil pH and the availability of P. In another experiment, samples of Filtra P and Polonite were equilibrated in batch experiments with the two soils in order to study the P dynamics in the soil-substrate system.  Batch equilibrations confirmed the liming potential of Filtra P and Polonite and showed that improved P availability in soils was strongly dependent on substrate P concentration, phase of sorbed P, and soil type. Finally, samples of Polonite used for household wastewater treatment were recycled as soil amendments to a mountain meadow and to an agricultural field for wheat cropping. The liming effect of Polonite was confirmed under field conditions and the results were similar to those of lime for the mountain meadow soil. However, the results were quite different for the agricultural field, where Polonite did not affect soil pH or any other chemical and physical soil properties investigated and had no impact on wheat yield and quality. The results from field experiments suggested that Polonite can be safely recycled to meadows and cropping fields at rates of 5-10 ton ha-1 but long-term studies are needed to forecast the effects of accumulation. / QC 20100708

The increasing highway traffic is leading to higher and higher levels of pollutants in the stormwater, such as suspended solids, metals, oils, nutrients and PAH. This runoff water causes the degradation of water bodies quality, leading to increased interest in the treatment of highway runoff for the removal of contaminants. Traditional treatments mostly consist of sedimentation, aimed primarily at the removal of suspended solids and particlebound contaminants. Recently the concern has shifted to the dissolved and colloidal fractions of contaminants as well, metals in particular, which makes reactive media filters a potentially interesting technology for runoff water treatment. However, very little research has been carried out on this technology so far, mostly in batch laboratory experiments with synthetic runoff water. This study aims at investigating the performance of four reactive media filters (Petrit T, Polonite, D-Rainclean and Filtralite-P) and a defined filter sand used for water processing at removing dissolved and particulate-bound metals. To achieve the goal, a pilot plant has been constructed in Gröndal, south of Stockholm, inside the existing Gröndalsmagasin, a full-scale stormwater treatment plant. The catchment area is located mostly on the E4 and Essingeleden, the highest trafficked motorway in Sweden with an AADT of 140 000 vehicles. A pump feeds the pilot plant from the Gröndalsmagasin outlet, after the stormwater has been treated with flocculation and sedimentation, and collects such water in a collection vessel. The five filter media columns are fed during runoff events with a flow scaled proportionally to the influent in the Gröndalsmagasin to mimic real conditions of flow and pollutant concentrations. Field measurements of pH, turbidity and conductivity, have been carried out during the trial. Samples have also been collected with flow proportional samplers connected to the collection vessel and the outlet of the five columns, as well as in the form of grab samples from sample ports at different depths in the columns. These samples have been sent to ALS Scandinavia AB to perform lab analysis. The pH in the effluent of the reactive filter media increased to values between 10 and 13, and slowly decreased during the trial. No difference was found between the pH in Filtersand outlet and the influent water. All materials showed excellent performance at removal of dissolved and particulate-bound Zn as well as particulate-bound Cu. Dissolved Cu was removed effectively by reactive media, and to a minor extent by Filtersand. Leaching of metals was observed from three materials: Filtersand released Mn during April, Polonite released Cr, with a very good correlation with the Chloride content and Petrit-T released Ba during the entire trials. / Den ökande vägtrafiken leder till allt högre halter av föroreningar i dagvattnet, till exampel suspenderade ämnen, metaller, oljor, närings ämnen och PAH. Detta dagvatten försämrar degradering av vattenförekomsternas kvalitet, vilket har lett till ett ökat intresse för rening av dagvatten fr ̊ån motorvägar för att avlägsna föroreningar. Traditionella behandlingar består oftast av sedimentering, som främst syftar till att reducera suspenderade ämnen och partikelbundna föroreningar. På senaste tiden har intresset förskjutits till att även omfatta lösta och kolloidala fraktioner av föroreningar, speciellt metaller, vilket gör reaktiva filtermaterial till en potentiellt intressant teknik f ̈or behandling av dagvatten. Mycket lite forskning har dock gjorts om denna teknik hittills, då oftast i laboratorieexperiment med syntetiskt dagvatten. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur fyra reaktiva mediafilter (Petrit T, Polonite, D-Rainclean och Filtralite-P) och en typ av sandfilter fungerar när det gäller att avlägsna lösta och partikelbundna metaller. F ̈or att uppnå målet har en pilotanläggning byggts i Gröndal, söder om Stockholm, inuti det existerande Gröndalsmagasinet, ett dagvattenreningsverk i full skala. Avrinningsområdet ligger vid E4 och Essingeleden, den mest trafikerade motorvägen i Sverige med en ÅDT på 140 000 fordon. En pump matar pilotanläggningen fr ̊ån Gröndalsmagasinets utlopp, efter att dagvattnet har behandlats med flockning och sedimentering, och samlas upp detta vatten i ett uppsamlingskärl. De fem filtreringskolonnerna matas under avrinningshändelserna med ett flöde som är proportionellt till inflödet till Gröndalsmagasinet för att imitera verkliga förhållanden av flöde och föroreningskoncentrationer. Mätningar av pH, turbiditet och konduktivitet har utförts under försöket. Prover har också samlats in med flödesproportionella provtagare som är kopplade till uppsamlingskärlet och utloppet fr ̊an de fem kolonnerna, samt i form av grabbprover fr ̊an provtagningsöppningar på olika djup i kolonnerna. Dessa prover har skickats till ALS Scandinavia AB för laboratorieanalys. pH-värdet i utflödet fr ̊ån det reaktiva filtermediet ökade till värden mellan 10 och 13 och sjönk långsamt under försöket. Ingen skillnad hittades mellan pH-värdet i filtrets utlopp och inflödesvattnet. Alla material visade mycket goda resultat när det gäller avlägsnande av löst och partikulät bundet Zn samt partikulärt bundet Cu. Lösta Cu avlägsnades mycket effektivt av reaktiva medier och i mindre utsträckning av Filtersand. Läckage av metaller observerades fr ̊ån tre material: Filtersand släppte ut Mn under April, Polonite släppte ut Cr, med en mycket god korrelation med kloridhalten och Petrit-T släppte ut Ba under hela försöket.