Water Research最新文献

{"title":"Mechanistic insight into Fe(III)-DOM complexes modulated UV/chlorine for promoting oxidative capacity and reducing DBPs formation","authors":"Anhong Cai ,&nbsp;Tianhong Wang ,&nbsp;Jing Deng ,&nbsp;Min Zhao ,&nbsp;Xianfeng Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125457","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125457","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The presence of Fe(III) in aquatic environments tends to form Fe(III)-dissolved organic matter (DOM) complexes, but their role in enhancement of decontamination and curtailment of disinfection by-products (DBPs) formation remains insufficiently understood. Herein, we systematically elucidated the pivotal role and underlying mechanism of structure-dependent complexation between Fe(III) and DOM in promoting carbamazepine (CBZ) degradation and curtailing DBPs formation in UV/chlorine treatment. The results indicated that Fe(III) readily formed stable complexes with hydroxyl and carboxyl functional groups in DOM and showed higher conditional stability constant (log<em>K</em>_ML) with fulvic acid (FA) than humic acid (HA). Although the introduction of DOM significantly suppressed the oxidation efficiency of UV/chlorine system, it had a negligible impact on the UV/chlorine/Fe(III) system, demonstrating that Fe(III)-DOM complexation effectively alleviated the DOM-induced quenching of reactive species and resulted in a more than 4-fold higher rate constant for CBZ oxidation. The oxidative efficiency of UV/chlorine/Fe(III)-DOM system was governed by DOM structure, where the abundance and arrangement of carboxyl and phenolic hydroxyl groups dictated Fe(III) complexation capacity, subsequently determining Fe(III) reducibility and reactive species formation. The complexes formed between Fe(III) and HA suppressed triplet-state DOM (³DOM*) formation while substantially promoting the generation of ∙OH, Cl∙ and other reactive species (including O₂·^-,¹O₂ and Fe(IV)), among which ∙OH and Cl∙ were identified as the dominant reactive species responsible for CBZ degradation. The variations in steady-state concentrations and contributions of radicals were clarified under various conditions. Compared to UV/chlorine/HA, UV/chlorine/Fe(III)-HA pretreatment significantly suppressed the formation potential and cytotoxicity of total DBPs under varying pretreatment time, pH levels and Br^- concentrations, with cytotoxicity reduced by 10.7-45.0%, 35.6-48.6% and 56.8-74.4%, respectively, demonstrating that Fe(III)-HA complexation effectively mitigated toxicity risks by altering HA transformation pathways and reactive species generation. Molecular-level analysis revealed that UV/chlorine/Fe(III)-HA pretreatment steered the transformation of HA towards highly oxidized, less reactive molecular compositions, thereby reducing DBPs formation potential.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125457"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146071895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Surface charge modulated hydrogel for faster atmospheric water harvesting","authors":"Wenjuan Ma ,&nbsp;Wei Zhang ,&nbsp;Renke Wei ,&nbsp;Shiyu Wen ,&nbsp;Xiaoyang Duan ,&nbsp;Zhenao Gu ,&nbsp;Chenghai Lu ,&nbsp;Jiaxing Xu ,&nbsp;Chengzhi Hu ,&nbsp;Jiuhui Qu","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125330","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125330","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) promotes equitable access to clean water. However, slow sorption-desorption kinetics of water sorbents lead to a low water production rate, especially for hydrogel sorbents with a hydrogen bond-mediated sorption-desorption process. The faster AWH calls for a deep understanding of the underpinning water-polymer interactions that govern the water sorption process. Here, we first investigate the overlooked water approach process to the surface before water capture at sorption sites, elucidating the mechanism of the dipole moments-induced reorientation of water molecules during the water approach process. An interesting phenomenon was found that the near-neutrally charged surface allows more water molecules to get closer to the polymer surface (≤ 10 Å) and better stabilize them (system energy decreased by 42.7%), facilitating subsequent sorption through water-polymer hydrogen bonds. Benefiting from the facilitated approach of water molecules to the near-neutrally charged surface, the sorption kinetics of the developed surface-charge modulated polyelectrolyte complex water harvesting hydrogel (WHG) are elevated by 44%. The intrinsically hygroscopic WHG can quickly harvest 0.52–1.18 g g^-1 water within 2 h under a relative humidity of 60–95%. The deep insights into the water-polymer interactions hold the potential for future surface chemistry design to realize ultrafast AWH and other sorption-based applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125330"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145897267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Novel air gap membrane absorption structure for ammonium salt crystallization","authors":"Ting Zhou ,&nbsp;Tao Sun ,&nbsp;Jun Zhang ,&nbsp;Qingyao He ,&nbsp;Shuiping Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125444","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125444","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a vital technology of renewable-nitrogen-fertilizer production, the conventional membrane distillation for ammonia nitrogen recovery from wastewater suffers from two challenges including high energy consumption and low product value, thus necessitating to develop a more efficient technology. Herein, a novel air gap membrane absorption (AGMA) structure was proposed to achieve superefficient ammonia nitrogen recovery and crystallization. To minimize heat loss and water transfer, AGMA was designed as an adiabatic air gap module (thickness=3 mm). The introduction of air gap structure enabled the feed side and the permeate side to maintain constant temperature, where the overall heat flux of AGMA process was 1019 W/m² lower than that of the process without air gap. Meanwhile, the water flux (from the permeate side to the feed side) reached to 1.27 kg/(m² h), and the overall mass transfer coefficient of ammonia (from the feed side to the permeate side) maintained at 2.38×10⁻⁶ m/s, promoting the concentration and crystallization of permeate solution. Importantly, the AGMA process yielded an ultrahigh ammonia separation factor (&gt;200), which exceeded these of typical membrane-based ammonia recovery technologies. Moreover, the AGMA system could stably achieve the recovery of pure ammonium salt crystals in the 60-hour cyclic experiment using liquid digestate as feed solution. Economic analysis confirmed that this system exhibited low energy consumption of approximately 64.35 kJ/mol-NH₃ and a low treatment cost of $2.01/m³-liquid digestate. These results underscore the great potential of the AGMA structure for high-efficiency and low-cost ammonia nitrogen recovery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125444"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146044766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development and long-term technical validation of an automated bioelectrochemical system for online BOD monitoring of wastewater hydrolysis acidification effluent","authors":"Xinyuan He ,&nbsp;Yi Lu ,&nbsp;Yuxiang Zhou ,&nbsp;Xuyu Yu ,&nbsp;Jianlei Zhu ,&nbsp;Ke Chen ,&nbsp;Zongying Ding ,&nbsp;Shiye Sun ,&nbsp;Shaoan Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125425","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125425","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Real-time monitoring of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is crucial for optimizing wastewater treatment processes and evaluating water environmental quality. This study developed an integrated online BOD monitoring system based on bioelectrochemical system (BES) technology. Through automated process design and parameter optimization, the system achieved a detection range of 12.8–172.8 mg <span>l</span>^-1 BOD (R²=0.995). Long-term stability assessment revealed that despite biosensor performance degradation during continuous measurements, the system maintained high accuracy (relative error &lt;1.1%) through a baseline recalibration strategy implemented every 100 measurements. Field validation for the hydrolysis acidification tank (HAT) effluent demonstrated the capability of the system to monitor dynamic BOD variations and respond rapidly to process manipulation such as carbon source addition. By establishing a correction model specifically for the HAT effluent samples, the system achieved a relative measurement error of 6.73%. The results demonstrate the robustness of the developed system in long-term real-time BOD monitoring of HAT effluent, which may provide data support for downstream process regulation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125425"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146001377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Anthropogenic gadolinium anomalies and reservoir-driven removal of dissolved rare earth elements in the world's largest hydropower project","authors":"Di Wang ,&nbsp;Guilin Han ,&nbsp;Yuchun Wang ,&nbsp;Shunrong Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125420","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125420","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Large reservoirs, such as the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), act as distinct biogeochemical reactors within the global riverine system. However, their dual role as recipients of pollution and modifiers of contaminant fate remains incompletely understood. Dissolved rare earth elements (REEs) in rivers serve as sensitive tracers of continental weathering and anthropogenic perturbations, making them valuable for deciphering such complex processes. This study aims to characterize the spatial distribution of dissolved REEs, quantify anthropogenic inputs versus natural weathering sources, and elucidate the geochemical fractionation mechanisms driven by reservoir operations in the TGR. The observed riverine total REE concentrations ranged from 6.8 to 102.9 ng/L (median: 14.6 ng/L), and fractionation parameters revealed compositional signatures closely linked to rock weathering. Notably, widespread positive gadolinium (Gd) anomalies (median δGd: 2.6) were observed. Unlike previous investigations from the initial impoundment period (2003–2006) which reported natural background levels, this study documents the emergence of a distinct anthropogenic Gd signal derived from sources such as medical wastewater. To rigorously distinguish these inputs, Positive Matrix Factorization modeling was applied base on the dissolved REE dataset. The model was constrained by observation-based uncertainties to optimize source apportionment. The model successfully quantified mixed anthropogenic inputs, accounting for 32.4 % of the total dissolved REEs. In contrast, a comparison with historical data suggests a significant long-term removal effect driven by reservoir operations, since the current dissolved REE concentrations was one order of magnitude lower than the historical baselines. This enhanced scavenging is further supported by an increase in Y/Ho molar ratios (from ∼58.0 to ∼76.0). These findings reveal the decoupling of REE geochemical behaviors: reservoir operations promote the persistence of conservative anthropogenic geochemical signatures (e.g., Gd anomalies), while simultaneously enhancing the removal of particulate-reactive REEs via sedimentation. This work highlights the utility of REE anomalies as specific early-warning indicators, and suggests using the δGd thresholds as an indicator for assessing pollutant loads from wastewater in large reservoir systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125420"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146001379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physics-informed neural networks in water and wastewater systems: a critical review","authors":"Antonino Di Bella ,&nbsp;Maziar Raissi ,&nbsp;Domenico Santoro ,&nbsp;Paolo Roccaro","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125449","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125449","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) represent a hybrid modeling paradigm that embeds governing physical laws, expressed as partial differential equations (PDEs), directly into neural network training. This integration enables models to respect fundamental conservation principles while learning from sparse or incomplete data. This review critically examines PINN applications in water and wastewater systems over the period 2014–2024, focusing on drinking water distribution networks, wastewater treatment plants, urban drainage systems, and water treatment processes. The review shows that PINNs excel in inverse problem solving by enabling parameter estimation and system identification from indirect observations, while maintaining physical consistency in extrapolation regimes where purely data-driven models fail. Documented applications report performance advantages, including 3–30 × reductions in required training data compared to standard neural networks, improved generalization under distribution shift, and successful use in scenarios involving partial observations and uncertain boundary conditions. However, critical limitations emerge: PINNs require well-posed problems with reliable governing equations, struggle with complex networked systems involving discrete components, face major convergence challenges for stiff or multi-scale PDEs, and still lack mature uncertainty quantification frameworks. Rather than positioning PINNs as replacements for established numerical methods, this work frames them as complementary tools that bridge mechanistic modeling and data-driven learning, offering particular value in parameter calibration, sensor placement optimization, and real-time state estimation for water infrastructure systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125449"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Source-dependent composition and reactivity of effluent organic matter regulating disinfection byproduct formation and cytotoxicity","authors":"Liang Zeng ,&nbsp;Penghui Du ,&nbsp;Guoping Chen ,&nbsp;Junwen Zhang ,&nbsp;Run Zhou ,&nbsp;Dong Ren ,&nbsp;Junjian Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125446","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125446","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Effluent organic matter (EfOM) is a key precursor of disinfection byproducts (DBPs), posing major challenges to the safe reuse of treated wastewater. However, the molecular composition and chlorine reactivity of EfOM are expected to differ substantially across industrial and municipal sources, yet their impacts on DBP formation and toxicity remain unclear. Here, effluents from 17 sources, representing electronic, pharmaceutical, food, hospital, and municipal sewage wastewaters, were characterized using spectrofluoroscopy and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), coupled with chlorination and bioassay experiments. Compared to sewage EfOM, pharmaceutical, food, and hospital wastewater EfOM showed comparable aromaticity, molecular size, and DBP yields and toxicity after chlorination. However, electronic wastewater EfOM exhibited much lower aromaticity and higher proportions of protein- and lipid-like compounds, resulting in lower trihalomethane and haloacetonitrile yields and lower cytotoxic DBP mixture after chlorination. Molecular formulas such as C₁₇H₃₄O₅, C₁₃H₂₀O₁₁, C₂₃H₃₂O₇S, C₁₂H₂₄O₄, and C₁₄H₂₀O₃S were unique to electronic, pharmaceutical, food, hospital, and sewage wastewaters in FT-ICR MS analysis, suggesting their potential as source-specific molecular markers. Although the trihalomethane yield correlated with organic matter aromaticity as previously reported, the relations between other DBP yields and organic matter characteristics differed from those reported for natural organic matter, suggesting different chlorine reactivity of EfOM from that of natural organic matter. These findings establish a molecular basis linking EfOM composition to DBP formation and toxicity, highlighting the need for source-specific risk assessment and control strategies in wastewater reuse management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125446"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146044765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Control of algal-derived disinfection by-products with a composite coagulant: Insights into the mechanism from a molecular perspective","authors":"Kangying Guo ,&nbsp;Wenbin Zhao ,&nbsp;Zhenfeng Shi ,&nbsp;Siyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Panpan Sa ,&nbsp;Yan Wang ,&nbsp;Qinyan Yue ,&nbsp;Yue Gao ,&nbsp;Baoyu Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125467","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125467","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coagulation pretreatment can effectively reduce the formation potentials of algal-derived disinfection by-products (DBPs). However, there remains a lack of systematic studies on elucidating the control mechanisms of coagulation on DBPs at the molecular level. DBPs formation characteristics revealed that trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) and dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) precursors were primarily low molecular weight (MW) substances, whereas high-MW components in IOM tended to form trichloromethane (TCM) and dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN). Notably, intracellular organic matter (IOM) exhibited a higher DBPs formation potential than extracellular organic matter (EOM), likely due to its greater content of aromatic proteins, which displayed high reactivity during chlorination. Compared with individual iron or titanium salts, polymeric iron titanium sulfate composite coagulant (PFTS) demonstrated significant advantages in reducing the formation potentials of DBPs. Specifically, the removal efficiencies of TCM, DCAA, TCAA, and DCAN by PFTS in EOM were 53.6%, 34.8%, 24.6%, and 50.1%, respectively. The removal rates of the above-mentioned DBPs in IOM were 41.4%, 46.4%, 35.6%, and 40.8%, respectively. PFTS could remove 91.7% of biopolymers and 65.8% of humic substances from EOM, which facilitated its superior control efficiency on DBPs. Additionally, PFTS could efficiently remove N-containing organic precursors such as proteins and peptides, thereby reducing the generation of N-DBPs. The findings of this work will provide a theoretical reference for ensuring summer water supply safety.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125467"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146072804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Concepts and methods for developing site-specific soil screening levels for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances","authors":"Mark L. Brusseau ,&nbsp;Bo Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125386","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125386","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soils are a primary long-term reservoir for PFAS, which poses risks to groundwater via leaching through the vadose zone. The application of soil screening levels (SSLs) is one standard, common means to determine risk-based soil concentrations that are anticipated to be protective of groundwater. As such they serve an important role in site characterization, risk assessment, and decision-making concerning the implementation of mitigation or remediation efforts. Despite their significance and widespread use, the determination of SSLs has received minimal research focus. The objective of this work was to examine the determination of SSLs specifically for PFAS-impacted sites. The conceptual basis of SSLs and of the different application methods was presented. It was demonstrated that the magnitudes of porewater concentrations in soil are more complex for unsaturated conditions, and that the difference between values for unsaturated and saturated conditions is a function of the specific PFAS as well as other factors. Methods for determining required input parameters for the SSL calculations were discussed in detail, including estimation methods, the use of laboratory measurements, and the application of field-based data. The applications and limitations of using batch leach tests and field-measured soil and porewater concentrations were specifically examined. Issues associated with data and parameter uncertainty, background concentrations, and other factors were discussed. The application of the methods is illustrated with examples for a fictitious data set and for PFAS-impacted field sites. The outcomes of this study are anticipated to provide clarity on both the conceptual and practical elements of SSL determinations, thereby leading to more robust implementations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125386"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145993411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Betaine-modified La-doped ferrihydrite for efficient phosphate removal to ultralow levels","authors":"Xiaohui Wang ,&nbsp;Xue Li ,&nbsp;Baoxue Zhou ,&nbsp;Pedro J. Alvarez ,&nbsp;Mingce Long","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125417","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.125417","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Eutrophication control requires efficient removal of phosphate in wastewater treatment plants to very low levels (&lt;0.1 mg P/L). This cannot be met by common low-cost adsorbents like hydrated ferric oxide (HFO) due to inefficient mass transfer at low P concentrations and steric hindrance posed by hydration shell of phosphate impeding inner-sphere complexation. We developed a betaine-modified lanthanum-doped hydrated ferric oxide (B_me-LaHFO) adsorbent by regulating the interfacial hydrogen bonding between surface functional groups and water molecules. This approach achieved interfacial phosphate dehydration, leading to unprecedentedly high performance for the removal of low P concentrations. La doping facilitated the modification of betaine on the adsorbent. The quaternary ammonium group (–(CH₃)₃N⁺) of betaine enriches phosphate via electrostatic adsorption and facilitates phosphate dehydration by forming hydrogen bonds (–(CH₃)₃N⁺···H–O) with water molecules. Concurrently, the electron-donating effect of the –COO⁻ synergizes with La doping to optimize the electronic structures of the Fe and La sites, lowering the –OH desorption energy barrier and promoting formation of stable La/Fe–O–P inner-sphere complexes. This endows B_me-LaHFO with superior adsorption capacity (98.6 mg P/g, 4.6-fold higher than HFO), broad pH adaptability (pH 3–11), high selectivity, and high regeneration performance (&gt;90% efficiency after 5 cycles). Flow-through columns packed with immobilized B_me-LaHFO effectively treated 6300 bed volumes of secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment plant (from 0.6 mg P/L in influent to &lt;0.1 mg P/L in effluent), with a treatment capacity 8-fold higher than that of immobilized HFO. Techno-economic analysis demonstrates the feasibility of this new material. Overall, this study informs the design of high-efficiency phosphate removal adsorbents to meet stringent discharge requirements, and of high-performance adsorbents for removal of other oxyanions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 125417"},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145993409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}