Adsorption study of phosphate ions pollution in aqueous solutions using microwave synthesized magnesium oxide nanoparticles

Phosphorus (as phosphate ions) is an essential ingredient that is commonly used in agriculture as both a fertilizer as well as in industry as a detergent which causes significant water pollution. The nanomaterials are mainly involved in removing these ions due to their high surface area. In this study, magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO NPs) has been synthesized by microwave method. XRD, AFM and SEM were used to investigate the synthesized MgO nanoparticles. The average particles size of MgO NPs calculated to be range (25-39 nm), and has a cubic structure. The synthesized nanoparticles were tested to remove phosphate ions from aqueous solutions. From the resulted, which found that at a pH 12, temperature 298°C the highest adsorption efficiency of phosphate (72%) as a contact time was 150 minutes. It was found that the adsorption mechanism was spontaneous and endothermic by thermodynamic measurements. Generally, the data indicated a good effectiveness of MgO in the removal of phosphate.