Phosphorus recovery from biogas fermentation liquid by Ca-Mg loaded biochar

Shortage in phosphorus (P) resources and P wastewater pollution is considered as a serious problem worldwide. The application of modified biochar for P recovery from wastewater and reuse of recovered P as agricultural fertilizer is a preferred process. This work aims to develop a calcium and magnesium loaded biochar (Ca-Mg/biochar) application for P recovery from biogas fermentation liquid. The physico-chemical characterization, adsorption efficiency, adsorption selectivity, and postsorption availability of Ca-Mg/biochar were investigated. The synthesized Ca-Mg/biochar was rich in organic functional groups and in CaO and MgO nanoparticles. With the increase in synthesis temperature, the yield decreased, C content increased, H content decreased, N content remained the same basically, and BET surface area increased. The P adsorption of Ca-Mg/biochar could be accelerated by nano-Ca and nano-Mg0 particles and reached equilibrium after 360 mm. The process was endothermic, spontaneous, and showed an increase in the disorder of the solid-liquid interface. Moreover, it could be fitted by the Freundlich model. The maximum P adsorption amounts were 294.22, 315.33, and 326.63 mg/g. The P adsorption selectivity of Ca-Mg/biochar could not be significantly influenced by the typical pH level of biogas fermentation liquid. The nano-Ca and nano-Mg0 particles of Ca-Mg/biochar could reduce the negative interaction effects of coexisting ions. The P releasing amounts of postsorption Ca-Mg/biochar were in the order of Ca-Mg/B600 > Ca-Mg/B450 > Ca-Mg/B300. Results revealed that postsorption Ca-Mg/biochar can continually release P and is more suitable for an acid environment. (C) 2014 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.