Adsorptive removal of phosphate from aqueous solutions using raw and calcinated dolomite

This study explored the feasibility of utilizing raw and calcinated dolomite under CO2 atmosphere for phosphate removal in laboratory experiments. The experimental work emphasized the evaluation of phosphate adsorption characteristics of this adsorbent material. Studies were conducted to delineate the effect of contact time, initial phosphate concentration, temperature, pH, stirring speed, adsorbent dose and calcination temperature. Phosphate removal decreased with increasing temperature and slightly increased with increasing of pH. The observed decrease in the adsorption capacity with increase of the temperature from 20 to 40 and to 60 degrees C indicates that the low temperatures favor the phosphate removal by adsorption onto dolomite. Phosphate removal was seen to decrease with increasing calcination temperature due to the structural changes occurring in the structure and pore size distribution of dolomite samples during calcination. The experimental data obtained were applied to the Freundlich, Langmuir, BET, Halsey, Harkins-Jura, Smith and Henderson isotherm equations to test the fit of these equations to raw and calcinated dolomite samples. By considering the experimental results and adsorption models applied in this study, it can be concluded that adsorption of phosphate occurs predominantly through physical interactions, and the dolomite sample has a heteroporous structure. The large values of the constants for Henderson equation and the high value of y(m) obtained from BET equation indicate the microporous structure is more stable in raw and calcinated dolomite samples.