Xu, RuiLyu, TaoWang, LijingYuan, YutingZhang, MeiyiCooper, MickMortimer, Robert J. G.Yang, QuepingPan, Gang2021-10-062021-10-062021-10-01Xu R, Lyu T, Wang L, et al., (2022) Utilization of coal fly ash waste for effective recapture of phosphorus from waters. Chemosphere, Volume 287, Pt 4, January 2022, Article number 1324310045-6535https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132431http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/17145Reutilization of the waste by-products from industrial and agricultural activities is crucially important towards attainment of environmental sustainability and the ‘circular economy’. In this study, we have developed and evaluated a sustainably-sourced adsorbent from coal fly ash, which was modified by a small amount of lanthanum (La-FA), for the recapture of phosphorous (P) from both synthetic and real natural waters. The prepared La-FA adsorbent possessed typical characteristic diffraction peaks similar to zeolite type Na–P1, and the BET surface area of La-FA was measured to be 10.9 times higher than that of the original FA. Investigation of P adsorption capability indicated that the maximum adsorption (10.8 mg P g−1) was 6.14 times higher than that (1.8 mg P g−1) of the original fly ash material. The ζ potentials measurement and P K-edge X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectra demonstrated that P was bonded on La-FA surfaces via an adsorption mechanism. After applying the proposed adsorbent to real lake water with La/P molar ratios in the range from 0.5:1 to 3:1, the La-FA adsorbent showed the highest phosphate removal ability with a La/P molar ratio 1:1, and the P adsorption was similar to that performance with the synthetic solution. Moreover, the La-FA absorbent produced a negligible effect on the concentrations of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), NH4+-N and NO3−-N in water. This study thus provides a potential material for effective P recapture and details of its operation.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 InternationalCircular economyCoal fly ashEutrophication managementLanthanum modificationPhosphorus adsorbentArticle