Zirconium was immobilized to orange juice residue, to investigate the feasibility of using zirconium-loaded saponified orange juice residue (Zr-SOJR) for phosphorus recovery from secondary effluent and the extraction solution from incinerated sewage sludge ash by using H₂SO₄ and HCl. These had phosphorus concentrations of 68.2 mg/dm³ and 5.9 mg/dm³, respectively. The phosphorus removal rate secondary effluent increased with an increasing solid/liquid ratio in batch experiments. The adsorption capacity of Zr-SOJR was also compared with those obtained using a synthetic phosphorus solution and using zirconium-loaded ferrite. The prepared absorbent was effective for phosphorus removal and exhibited a reasonably high sorption capacity, twice that of zirconium ferrite. Secondary effluent was treated by packed column, and this reached break-through after 300 bed volumes. The results from phosphorous extraction from the ash indicate that can be treated with acid to efficiently recover phosphorous and thus can be absorbed by Zr-SOJR.

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