INVESTIGATION OF REMOVAL OF PHOSPHATE FROM AQUEOUS MEDIA USING LOW COST ADSORBENT

In this study, removal of phosphate from waste aqueous solutions was examined in a batch wise system using low cost waste materials. The effects of adsorbent dosage and phosphate concentration on the phosphate removal have been studied bu using eggshells and pumice due to high removal of phosphate . The experimental data were applied to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models for determination of adsorption of phosphate mechanism onto waste eggshells and pumice. The results indicate that both models fitted very well the experimental data. According to the Langmuir isotherm studies, the maximum sorption capacity (qmax) of the waste eggshell and pumice were evaluated as 19.23 mg/g (R2=0.943) and 32.26 mg/g (R2=0.894). The heterogeneity factor (1/n) of the Freundlich isotherm model was calculated as 0.245 for the waste eggshells, 0.383 for the pumice, respectively.