Competitive Interaction of Phosphate with Selected Toxic Metals Ions in the Adsorption from Effluent of Sewage Sludge by Iron/Alginate Beads

Wastewater is characterized by a high content of phosphate and toxic metals. Many studies have confirmed the sorption affinity of alginate adsorbents for these ions. In this study, the adsorption of phosphate from effluent of sewage sludge on biodegradable alginate matrices cross-linked with Fe(3+) ions (Fe_Alg) was investigated. Kinetics and adsorption isotherms were tested in laboratory conditions in deionized water (DW_P) and in the effluent (SW_P), and in the same solutions enriched in toxic metals ions—Cu(2+), Cd(2+), Pb(2+), and Zn(2+) (DW_PM and SW_PM). Batch experiments were performed by changing the concentration of phosphate at constant metal concentration. Kinetics experiments indicated that the pseudo-second-order model displayed the best correlation with adsorption kinetics data for both metals and phosphate. The Freundlich equation provided the best fit with the experimental results of phosphate adsorption from DW_P and DW_PM, while the adsorption from SD_P and SD_PM was better described by the Langmuir equation. For tested systems, the affinity of the Fe_Alg for metal ions was in the following decreasing order: Pb(2+) > Cu(2+) > Cd(2+) > Zn(2+) in DW_PM, and Pb(2+) > Cu(2+) > Cd(2+) > Zn(2+) in SW_PM. The metals’ enrichment of the DW_P solution increased the affinity of Fe_Alg beads relating to phosphate, while the addition of the metals of the SW_P solution decreased this affinity.