American Society of Engineering Education - North Central Section Spring Conference 2018

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Reaction Kinetics and Speciation Dynamics of the Solubilization of Phosphorus from Runoff Sediment Using Citric Acid

Reaction kinetics and speciation dynamics of the solubilization of phosphorus from runoff sediment using citric acid

Introduction: Phosphorus (P) is a critical nonrenewable resource used in food production to help ensure global food security. However, P losses to the environment from agriculture, primarily as sediment runoff, represents a 46% loss of the total annual P mined globally. This contribution of P to the environment is a major cause of eutrophication which can cause significant environmental damage. To effectively manage P, managements approaches would need to both mitigate the environmental impact of P and recovery lost P for reuse as fertilizer. Runoff sediments are still currently an untapped source of P for reuse and tapping this source could potentially reduce the demand on mined P resources. This poster will present findings on our study looking into the reaction kinetics and speciation dynamics of P solubilization from runoff sediments using critic acids. The knowledge gained from this study is necessary to aid in our development of a new P recovery process that will utilize low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs), such as citric acid, that are exuded by fungi to solubilize and recover inorganic sediment bound P species from runoff sediments located in eutrophic water bodies. Objectives/Methodology: Sediment for this study was collect from the eutrophic Woods Lake in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sediment samples were treated with a 60 mM citric acid solution under optimal process conditions determined in previous studies. Five time points were used to determine reaction kinetics and speciation dynamics of the P solubilization process. At each time point the amount of solubilized P, the citric acid solution content, the solution pH, and sediment P speciation was determined. Results and Discussion: By looking at both the solubilization and speciation dynamics results, new knowledge can be inferred about system mechanisms and system processes of the solubilization of P from sediment using cirtic acid. This increased knowledge will be used to aid in the development of a new P recovery approach that will utilize the production of LMWOAs by fungi by allowing the development of system models and simulations. Once developed our new P recovery approach will benefit society by helping to ensure future global food security, and the environment by reducing the amount of anthropogenic eutrophication caused by agricultural runoff.

Andro Mondala
WMU
United States

Sarah Koehler
WMU

Shaun Shields
WMU

Katie Gaviglio
WMU

 

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