The objective of this study was to investigate phosphate removal using magnetic alginate-layered double hydroxide (LDH) composites. The magnetic composites were prepared by entrapping synthetic magnetic iron oxide and calcined Mg-Al LDH in polymer matrix (alginate). Results showed that the magnetic composites (2% magnetic iron oxide and 6% calcined Mg-Al LDH) were effective in the removal of phosphate with the sorption capacity of 5.0 +/- 0.1 mgP/g under given experimental conditions (adsorbent dose = 0.05 g in 30 ml solution; initial phosphate concentration = 10 mgP/l; reaction time = 24 h). Both magnetic iron oxide and calcined Mg-Al LDH have the ability to adsorb phosphate, with the latter having much higher sorption capacity. In the magnetic composites, calcined Mg-Al LDH functions as a phosphate adsorbent while magnetic iron oxide provides both magnetic and sorption properties. Results also demonstrated that phosphate sorption to the magnetic composites reached equilibrium at 24 h. The maximum phosphate sorption capacity was determined to be 39.1 mgP/g. In addition, phosphate removal was not sensitive to initial solution pH between 4.1 and 10.2. Only 9% of the phosphate sorption capacity was reduced as the solution pH increased from 4.1 to 10.2. This study demonstrated that magnetic alginate-LDH composites could be used for phosphate removal in combination with magnetic separation.
