Removal of phosphate from water by a highly selective La(III)-chelex resin

A new polymer ligand exchanger (PLE) has been developed for the removal of phosphate in wastewater. This PLE, consisting of lanthanum(III) bound to chelex-100 resin, was prepared by passing LaCl3 solution through a column of chelex-100. Uptake of phosphate from water by this La-chelex resin was investigated in the column mode. The La-chelex resin was able to remove phosphate efficiently from water, and the uptake of phosphate was not affected by the presence of large amounts of anions (0.1 M) such as chloride and sulfate. The La-chelex resin was also able to efficiently remove phosphate from seawater to <0.1 mg-P l−1, and regenerated for reuse by removing the sorbed phosphate by eluting with 6 M HCl.