Water and Irrigation Management

Water and Irrigation Management

Optimization of nitrate, urea, and ammonium removal from agricultural wastewater using selected modified organic and inorganic adsorbents

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Mehri Boroumand
Mohammad Ali Bahmanyar
Mehdi Ghajar Sepanlou
Seyed Mostafa Emadi
Department of Soil Science and Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences,‎ Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Sari, Iran.
10.22059/jwim.2026.404969.1271
Abstract
One of the most important pollutants of surface and underground water resources are nitrogen compounds. These compounds enter the environment, particularly surface water resources, through various means, including agriculture and the use of chemical fertilizers, aquaculture, food industries, and refineries, and cause numerous problems directly or indirectly. Therefore, it is necessary to find a solution to remove or reduce these compounds. The use of inorganic and organic adsorbents can be an easy, effective, and low-cost method. To investigate the efficiency of organic and inorganic adsorbents in removing nitrogenous compounds, some available organic adsorbents (including 7 treatments: rice straw and husk, biochar-rice straw and husk prepared at two temperatures of 300 and 600 °C, and Leonardite) and inorganic adsorbents (including 3 treatments: bentonite, pumice, and zeolite) were used to remove nitrogenous compounds (nitrate, urea and ammonium). To increase efficiency and comparison, the adsorbents were used in simple form, modified with acid, and with iron at two different acidity levels (pH=2 and pH=6). The results showed that biochar prepared from rice straw at a temperature of 600 °C and modified with iron at pH=2, with an absorption of about 79% of nitrate from water, was the best adsorbent for removing nitrate from water among all organic and inorganic adsorbents studied in this study. Rice straw biochar prepared at 600°C and modified with iron at pH=6 removed the highest amount of urea, and acid-modified zeolite showed the best performance with 92% ammonium absorption. Overall, this study indicates the effective and efficient removal of nitrogen compounds by these adsorbents, and modification with acid and iron improved the removal capability of these adsorbents. As a result, they can be used as a cheap and accessible method for removing pollutants from water sources.
Keywords
Removal of contaminants
Biochar
Rice straw
Leonardite and Bentonite
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Water and Irrigation Management
Volume 16, Issue 1
Summer 2026
Pages 109-126