Phosphate removal by low-cost industrial byproduct iron shavings: Efficacy and longevity

Iron shavings (IS) are low-cost industrial byproducts that show great potential in removing phosphorus (P) from contaminated water. This work investigates the effectiveness of IS for P (PO₄-P) removal and emphasizes its pretreatment and longevity. A 4-d pretreatment of IS with 2.5 % NaCl resulted in a significant increase in P adsorption capacity, from approximately 1.0 to 2.5 mg/g. In column tests, the P removal efficiency remained above 60 % over 60 d, with a capacity of 4.1 mg P/g. Longevity tests involved seven adsorption-regeneration cycles, with an effective IS regeneration by 1 N NaOH and neutralization by HCl solution (pH=2), and the P adsorption capacity only slightly decreased from 2.14 to 1.75 mg P/g. To significantly improve the IS regeneration operation, we employed induction heating and compared an intermittent 10-s induction heating with an isothermal hot NaOH (85 ℃) treatment in 10-min desorption tests (95.3 % versus 56.6 % regeneration). We further found that IH completely regenerated IS in 5 min with 100 s of IH application, but 30 min were needed for hot NaOH (85 ℃) treatment. SEM/EDX, XRD, and XPS tests were conducted to track the changes in the morphology, crystallinity, and surface oxidation products of IS in the cycle tests. Notably, IS surface changed from coarse to smooth with fewer reactive sites and a higher conversion of amorphous Fe oxides to more crystalline Fe₃O₄, resulting in lower reactivity and fewer exposed Fe⁰ sites over multiple cycles. All of these mechanisms contributed to the deterioration in P removal capacity. Overall, this study provides a solid foundation for applying low-cost IS in effectively removing P from agricultural runoff.