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Sustainable Application of Laterite for Nitrate and Sulphate Reduction in Domestic Wastewater: Adsorption Isotherm, Kinetic, and Mechanistic Studies

Amrutha D S, Kiran B M

Abstract


Wastewater from domestic sources, which contains nutrients such as nitrate (NO₃⁻) and sulphate (SO₄²⁻), poses serious threats to groundwater, aquatic ecosystems, and human health, particularly in rapidly growing areas where wastewater treatment facilities are limited. In resource-constrained regions, conventional wastewater treatment technologies are often expensive and difficult to implement. Although natural adsorbents have attracted considerable attention as sustainable alternatives, limited research has investigated the use of laterite blocks for the removal of nitrogen compounds from domestic wastewater. This study evaluated the potential of laterite blocks as a sustainable, low-cost, and locally available treatment medium for domestic wastewater remediation, with a particular focus on the removal of nitrate and sulphate using laterite-based filtration blocks. Batch-scale and continuous-flow experiments were conducted using municipal wastewater, and the adsorption behaviour was analysed using adsorption isotherm and kinetic models. To elucidate the adsorption mechanism, changes in surface morphology before and after adsorption were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the Langmuir isotherm model (R² = 0.9858) provided a better fit for nitrate adsorption than the Freundlich model (R² = 0.9627). Similarly, sulphate adsorption was better described by the Langmuir isotherm (R² = 0.9930) than the Freundlich model (R² = 0.9580), indicating that adsorption predominantly occurred as monolayer adsorption on the laterite surface. The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model, suggesting that chemisorption was the dominant mechanism governing the removal process. Sulphate ions interacted with the Fe and Al oxides present in the laterite through surface complexation reactions involving ligand exchange within the adsorbed layer. SEM observations further confirmed pore filling and changes in surface morphology after adsorption, demonstrating the effective accumulation of adsorbate on the laterite surface. The findings demonstrate that laterite block filtration systems can effectively remove sulphate and nitrate from domestic wastewater, highlighting their potential as a cost-effective and sustainable solution for decentralized wastewater treatment in resource-limited communities.

Keywords



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DOI: 10.14416/j.asep.2026.09.001

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