Recovery of Inorganic Phosphorus Using Copper-Substituted ZSM‑5

• Published in: ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering Vol. 5; no. 7; pp. 6192 - 6200
• Main Authors: Manto, Michael J, Xie, Pengfei, Keller, Mitchell A, Liano, Wilhelm E, Pu, Tiancheng, Wang, Chao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 03.07.2017
• Subjects: Separation; Phosphorus recovery; Cu-ZSM-5; Ion exchange; Wastewater; Zeolites
• ISSN: 2168-0485; 2168-0485
• DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b01127

Efficient and cost-effective separation of phosphorus (P) from aqueous solutions possesses great value in addressing the challenges in sustainability. Not only does it mitigate the pollution caused by phosphate in agricultural runoffs, but it also provides a renewable source for production of phosphorus-based chemicals and fertilizes. Here we report on the use of copper-substituted zeolites, Cu-ZSM-5, as sorbents for recovery of P. Fast capture and release of phosphate anions are demonstrated with >90% efficiency of recovery using synthetic solutions of Na2HPO4 and NaCl, respectively. The zeolite sorbents are also found to be recyclable and sustain high recovery efficiencies after multiple capture–release cycles. Cu­(II) species in the zeolites are identified to be the active sites for anion adsorption, and based on this finding a ligand exchange mechanism is proposed for the capture and release of phosphorus.