Characterization and performance of fly ash in the adsorption of nitrate and phosphate in aquatic environments

The expansion of economic and societal activities has resulted in higher concentrations of nitrate and phosphate in wastewater. This investigation examines the potential use of fly ash sourced from thermal power plants as a adsorbent to confiscate nitrate (NO3-) and phosphate (PO43-) from such wast...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Renu Bala, Asha Singh, Dinesh Arora, Rajesh Dhankhar, Kiran Bala, Sunil Kumar Chhikara
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Action for Sustainable Efficacious Development and Awareness 2025-06-01
Series:Environment Conservation Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.environcj.in/index.php/ecj/article/view/3117
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The expansion of economic and societal activities has resulted in higher concentrations of nitrate and phosphate in wastewater. This investigation examines the potential use of fly ash sourced from thermal power plants as a adsorbent to confiscate nitrate (NO3-) and phosphate (PO43-) from such wastewater. Fly ash was treated with distilled water to neutralize it before being used as an adsorbent.  Batch studies were carried out to evaluate different factors impact the adsorption of nitrate and phosphate. The  adsorbent was characterized using Zeta Potential, FE-SEM, EDAX, and FTIR techniques. Optimal adsorption occurred at pH 6.0 for nitrate and pH 7.0 for phosphate, with an adsorbent amount of 0.25 g, initial NO3- and PO43- ion concentrations of 20 mg/l, and a temperature of 25 ℃ with a constant stirring of 100 rpm. The maximum sorption capacities were found to be 2.422 mg/g for NO3- and 3.402 mg/g for PO43- ions. The Freundlich isotherm model offered a more accurate representation of the adsorption data, while pseudo second-order kinetics indicated a well-defined adsorption mechanism with high R2 values of 0.996 & 0.9995 for nitrate and phosphate, correspondingly. Thermodynamic analysis suggested that the adsorption process was found to be exothermic and non-spontaneous at higher temperatures.
ISSN:0972-3099
2278-5124