Phosphate Removal from Wastewater by Using Cationic Composite Hydrogels

Abstract: Wastewater treatment and making it reusable is of great importance especially considering global warming and limited water sources on earth. One of the water pollutants is phosphate pollution caused by domestic wastes such as detergents and this pollution increases alg blooms, which leads to decrement in water quality. In this study, which is thought that anionic phosphate pollution can be easily removed with the help of cationic materials, the composite hydrogels consisiting of positive charged polymeric 3- acrylamido- trimethly ammonium chloride and chitosan were prepared. After various characterization tests, phosphate uptake capacities of the composite materials were determined. With the phosphate holding capacities attaining up to 124 mg / g and its reusabiliy up to 5 cycles, it was observed that the composite hydrogels have a potential to use for phosphate removal as an adsorbent.