“…The pH increase caused by the LDH was most likely responsible for the removal of some of the other ions from water, namely Mg, Cu, Zn, and P. While LDH has been studied as a sorbent for Cu 2+ , Mg 2+ , and Zn 2+ removal, these processes were carried out below pH 6 [85][86][87][88]. Hence, the removal of Mg, Cu, and Zn from the wastewaters in our study was likely through precipitation, as Mg(OH) 2 , Cu(OH) 2 , and Zn(OH) 2 will form above pH 9.5, 7.5, and pH 8.7, respectively [89,90]. The absence of new reflections in the post-mortem XRD patterns (Figure 8) indicated that precipitated compounds (e.g., of Mg, Cu, and Zn hydroxides) were amorphous or in quantities insufficient for detection.…”