Zn-Al Layered Double Hydroxides for Phosphate Removal: Synthesis and Application

Abstract

Excess phosphate content discharged from various human activities into water bodies often results in Eutrophication. Eutrophication leads to water pollution and degrades the water quality. One of the feasible and economical solutions for the removal of phosphates is Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) structures. LDHs are a type of anionic clay whose structure is made up of brucite-like layers. The present study deals with the synthesis of Zn-Al LDH by the co-precipitation method. The synthesized Zn-Al LDH was characterized by instrumentation like XRD, TG–DTA, SEM- EDS and FTIR. These analyses confirmed the formation of LDH structure. Different batch experiments were conducted by varying the dosage and contact time. The results of the batch experiments showed that 0.9g was the optimum dosage for phosphate removal and the reaction reached equilibrium at 40min. The maximum removal efficiency was found to be 94.69%.