Nutrient recovery from waste water: Optimization of an adsorption process

Experimental design was used to study the effect of pH, initial solution concentration, contact time and dosage ratio of the adsorption of phosphorus from a synthetic waste water onto calcium carbonate based adsorbents. Interaction between the process variables was found to be important for the adsorption of phosphorus. The significance of these interaction effects have been highlighted by an Experimental Design approach undertaken. There was reasonable agreement between the Experimental Design model and independent experimental data, which indicates that the model equations are suitable for use in predicting the adsorption of phosphorus on calcium carbonate based adsorbents.