Abstract
Blast furnace BF slag is a by-product of steel plants. The objective of this study was to evaluate experimental methods to determine the phosphorus sorption capacity of BF slag. The handling of BF slag, before usage and clogging were also considered, as well as estimating the phosphorus retention capacity. Agitation and pilot-scale experiments were performed using both wastewater and phosphate solutions. This investigation showed that sorption capacities derived by wastewater experiments were considerably lower compared to those by phosphate solutions. Fresh BF slag briefly exposed to rainfall had a higher phosphorus sorption than weathered BF slag, indicating the importance of handling the slag carefully before usage. The risk for leakage of sulfuric compounds is considerable, especially during the initial operation phase of BF slag filters. Locations of BF slag filter beds for wastewater treatment must be carefully chosen from an environmental point of view.
Background
Small on-site wastewater treatment systems for residential buildings in Sweden contribute significantly to the anthropogenic discharge of phosphorus, approximately 20% of the gross discharge SEPA 2003. Discharge from municipal wastewater treatment plants is only approximately 15% SEPA 2003, though as much as 85% SCB 2004 of the Swedish population are connected to wastewater treatment plants. Small wastewater treatment systems may be upgraded by phosphorus sorbing reactive filter materials to improve their phosphorus retention. Suggested reactive filter materials for this purpose are, e.g., limestone Johansson 1999; Hill et al. 2000, opoka Johansson and Gustafsson 2000, wollastonite Brooks et al. 2000; Hill et al. 2000, shell sand Roseth 2000, light expanded clay aggregates Leca Zhu et al. 2003, fly ash Mann and Bavor 1993; Johansson 1999, and blast furnace BF slag Yamada et al. 1986; Sunahara et al. 1987.
The sorption capacity of the filter material is an important parameter for the longevity of wastewater treatment applications. During the last decade, phosphorus sorption of BF slag has been studied intensively Lee et al. 1997; Sakadevan and Bavor 1998; Johansson 1999; Johansson and Gustafsson 2000; Grüneberg and Kern 2001; Agyei et al. 2002; Khelifi et al. 2002; Cameron et al. 2003; Oguz 2004; Hylander et al. 2005; Korkusuz et al. 2005. The obtained sorption capacity of these studies varied to a great extent. The variation cannot be explained only by the difference between the materials, e.g., crystalline and amorphous BF slag, but by the differences in the experimental methods, such as agitation versus filter experiments, influent solution, phosphorus content of influent, contact time, grain size of filter material. A higher reaction temperature caused higher phosphorus retention according to Yamada et al. 1986 and Agyei et al. 2002. An increased influent phosphorus concentration resulted in an increased phosphorus sorption when conducting agitation experiments Sunahara et al. 1987; Agyei et al. 2002. A higher concentration of salt in the solution seemed to decrease the phosphate sorption on the BF slag. Yamada et al. 1986 investigated the effect of NaCl content on phosphorus retention, showing that a higher NaCl concentration decreased the phosphorus sorption.