Hybrid anion exchanger for trace phosphate removal from water and wastewater.

Throughout recent decades, the wastewater treatment industry has identified the discharge of nutrients, including phosphates and nitrates, into waterways as a risk to natural environments due to the serious effects of eutrophication. For this reason, new tertiary treatment processes have abounded; these processes generally utilize physico-chemical and biological methods to remove nutrients from secondary wastewaters. The disadvantages of such methods involve larger reactor volumes, operating costs, and waste sludge production; furthermore, complete nutrient removal is unattainable due to thermodynamic and kinetic limitations.