Effect of dissolved organic matter on nitrate-nitrogen removal by anion exchange resin and kinetics studies

The effects of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on the removal of nitrate-nitrogen from the model contaminated water have been investigated utilizing the strong base anion exchange resins. With the increase of gallic acid concentration from 0 to 400 mg/L, the adsorption amount of nitrate-nitrogen on the commercial resins, including D201, Purolite A 300 (A300) and Purolite A 520E (A520E), would significantly decrease. However, the presence of tannin acid has little impact on nitrate-nitrogen adsorption on them. Compared to D201 and A300 resins, A520E resin exhibited more preferable adsorption ability toward nitrate-nitrogen in the presence of competing organic molecules, such as gallic acid and tannin acid at greater levels in aqueous solution. Attractively, the equilibrium data showed that the adsorption isotherm of nitrate-nitrogen on A520E resin was in good agreement with Langmuir and Freundlich equations. The rate parameters for the intra particle diffusion have been estimated for the different initial concentrations. In batch adsorption processes, nitrate-nitrogen diffuse in porous adsorbent and rate process usually depends on t 1/2 rather than the contact time. The pseudo first- and the second-order kinetic models fit better for nitrate-nitrogen adsorption onto A520E resin. The observations reported herein illustrated that A520E resin will be an excellent adsorbent for enhanced removal of nitrate-nitrogen from contaminated groundwater.