Removal of phosphate from wastewater by nano-Fe3O4 modified attapulgite | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Removal of phosphate from wastewater by nano-Fe3O4 modified attapulgite Tingyu Fan, Pingjuan Wu, Changde Yang, Peiyun Chen, Xuyang Zhou, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8401346/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Natural clay minerals demonstrate potential as phosphate adsorbents; however, their practical application is hindered by challenges in material recovery and limited adsorption capacity, resulting in increased operational costs. In this study, magnetic attapulgite (MATP) was synthesized using a co-precipitation method for simulating phosphate adsorption in wastewater treatment. The adsorbent was characterized using SEM, XRD, FT-IR and VSM. The characterization results confirmed the successful loading of nano Fe 3 O 4 onto attapulgite (ATP). The saturation magnetization intensity of MATP achieved the threshold required for rapid solid-liquid separation and recyclability. The adsorption kinetics were best described by the pseudo-second-order model, while the adsorption isotherms followed the Langmuir model. MATP exhibited a maximum phosphate adsorption capacity of 4.83 mg·g⁻¹, with an optimal dosage of 0.15 g and optimal performance under acidic pH conditions. The presence of Ca²⁺ in solution was found to significantly enhance the phosphate adsorption capacity of the magnetic clay composite. The phosphate adsorption process was found to be primarily governed by ligand exchange induced by -OH in MATP. This study demonstrated that magnetic reusable MATP composites have great promise for phosphorus removal and recycling. attapulgite magnetic materials modification nano-Fe3O4 dephosphorization Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8401346","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":597039020,"identity":"c94183b1-9361-4b0c-ba44-0223f727423f","order_by":0,"name":"Tingyu Fan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxgcMDBVQNg8xGngYmA0YGM4AWWwkaWFsI0WLvUQy4+fCeXaJ8+c3MD5428Ygb07QFolkZumZ25ITNxxjYDac28ZguLOBoJb8A9K825gTN7AxsEnztjEkGBwgwpbfvHPqE+e3MbD/JlYL0PCGw4kNxxjYmInTcuYxmzXPsePGG44lNkvOOSdhuIGQFvb2ZObbPDXVsvObDx/88KbMRp6gLQwCCTAWYwOQkCCkHgj4CRo6CkbBKBgFIx4AANatOGj/mzL6AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Anhui University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tingyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Fan","suffix":""},{"id":597039022,"identity":"f26ec1af-79d7-439d-8f44-17450ac5c64f","order_by":1,"name":"Pingjuan Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Anhui University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pingjuan","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":597039023,"identity":"9a74da96-91c6-40da-9f29-bb0875350dfe","order_by":2,"name":"Changde Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Key Laboratory of Green Mining of Coal Resources","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Changde","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":597039024,"identity":"ea70f26a-d320-45c5-ab3a-c2626f010b42","order_by":3,"name":"Peiyun Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Anhui University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Peiyun","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":597039025,"identity":"00c323c3-24d6-4892-bcc0-8990d7fc21ff","order_by":4,"name":"Xuyang Zhou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Anhui University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xuyang","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""},{"id":597039026,"identity":"853619dc-a948-4799-b689-b8276b25e96e","order_by":5,"name":"Xingming Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Anhui University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xingming","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":597039027,"identity":"87366240-01d9-4236-a942-d4fdba09176b","order_by":6,"name":"Shun Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Anhui University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shun","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":597039028,"identity":"bfd8564a-bc66-4d54-a844-198cc3cd9658","order_by":7,"name":"Jingkai Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Key Laboratory of Green Mining of Coal Resources","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jingkai","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-19 06:38:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8401346/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8401346/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108027589,"identity":"40ceeea4-8ad4-456b-aad6-3c9d39ac7036","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-28 15:25:06","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":850551,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8401346/v1_covered_0a94f089-73e9-4c08-bcd0-b1a5cb1da770.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Removal of phosphate from wastewater by nano-Fe3O4 modified attapulgite","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"
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