Abstract:The thermodynamic equilibrium diagrams of Mg²⁺- - -H₂O system at 298 K were established based on the thermodynamic calculation. From the diagram, the thermodynamic conditions for removing phosphorus from the tungstate solution by magnesium salt precipitation were obtained. The results show that when the concentration of total magnesium increases from 0.01 mol/L to 1.0 mol/L, the optimal pH for the phosphorus removal by magnesium phosphate decreases from 9.8 to 8.8. The residual concentration of total phosphorus almost keeps the level of 4.0×10^-6 mol/L in the system. MgHPO₄, Mg₃(PO₄)₂ and the mixture of Mg₃(PO₄)₂ and Mg(OH)₂ are stabilized in these system, respectively. However, increasing the total concentration of magnesium has little effect on phosphorus removal by magnesium ammonium phosphate, while it is helpful for phosphorus removal by increasing the total ammonia concentration. The calculated results demonstrate that the residual concentration of total phosphorus can decrease to 5.0×10^-7 mol/L as the total concentration of ammonia reaches 5.0 mol/L and the optimal pH value is 9-10. Finally, verification experiments were conducted with home-made ammonium tungstate solution containing 50 g/L WO₃ and 13 g/L P. The results show that when the dosage of MgCl₂ is 1.1 times of the theoretical amount, the optimum pH for removing phosphorus is 9.5, which matches with the results of the theoretical calculation exactly.

Key words: tungstate; phosphorus removal; thermodynamics; magnesium ammonium phosphate; chemical precipitation