Abstract
This technology is available for sale and distribution by a UCF licensee. For more information, please contact Andrea Adkins.
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a filtration system that effectively removes nitrogen and phosphorus from water and transforms the compounds into reusable byproducts: ammonia and aluminum phosphate. The UCF aluminum-based green environmental media, AGEM(TM), compositions can co-treat stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, and agricultural discharge.
When agricultural nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorous) flow into bodies of water, an overgrowth of plant life results, depleting the water of oxygen that aquatic animals need to breathe. Stormwater runoff and wastewater effluent also contribute to eutrophication. Along with this environmental issue, phosphorus reserves used for agricultural food production are declining. Moreover, the costs to replace and dispose of fertilizers (media) can account for about 80 percent of the cost of water treatment. UCF’s AGEM(TM) offers a sustainable solution to these issues. AGEM(TM) mixes are green, cost-effective, environmentally benign, and forward-looking. The media mixes are beneficial for both treating water at the regional and urban scale as well as emergency response during hazardous events such as harmful algal blooms in essential lakes. In one example application, the technology can support a new industrial sector such as urban farming in a food-water nexus.
Technical Details
The UCF AGEM(TM) invention comprises a filtration system and methods for using the system to treat water containing nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. Examples of water include stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent and agricultural discharge. The AGEM(TM) technology uses a synergistic mixture of iron filings, clay particles, and aluminum particles to provide improved filtration and reuse byproducts of the filtration process. The invention includes two new aluminum-based sorption media: AGEM-1 (which uses aluminum flakes) and AGEM-2 (which uses aluminum powder). Tire crumb and sand can be included, depending on the composition. For both compositions, the removal process encompasses absorption, adsorption, reduction-oxidation, ion exchange and precipitation.
During the filtration process, the clay particles in the synergistic composition attract the nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, which are then absorbed onto the surface of the iron filings and the clay particles. The aluminum particles react with the nitrogen compounds via oxidation to form ammonia compounds; the particles react with the phosphorus compounds to produce aluminum phosphate. Thus, the synergistic relationship between the iron filings, clay particles and aluminum particles remove nitrogen and phosphorus compounds from water and recover the compounds in usable forms, namely, ammonia and aluminum phosphate. In an isotherm study, AGEM-2 removed more than 80 percent nitrate and 90 percent phosphate. Moreover, both media mixes exhibited elevated phosphate absorption within the sorption process, with AGEM-2 removing 98 percent of the total phosphate for recovery.
Stage of Development
Prototype available.
Benefit
Green, cost-effective, environmentally sustainableImproves efficiencies in nutrient removal and recoveryEliminates the cost associated with the replacement of the mediaMinimizes the environmental impact on landfill disposalReduces the need for phosphorus miningMarket Application
Low impact development facilities such as retention basins, exfiltration trenches, wet detention ponds, stormwater/rainwater harvesting, floating wetlands, biofiltrationPublications
Synergistic effects of
aluminum/iron oxides and clay minerals on nutrient removal and recovery in
water filtration media, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 275, 2020,
122728, ISSN 0959-6526, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122728
Adsorption thermodynamics
and kinetics of Advanced Green Environmental Media (AGEM) for nutrient removal
and recovery in agricultural discharge and stormwater runoff, Environmental
Pollution, Volume 266, Part 1, 2020, 115172, ISSN 0269-7491, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115172
Brochure
