Holistic Approach to Phosphorus Recovery from Urban Wastewater: Enhanced Biological Removal Combined with Precipitation
Open accessAbstract
Combined phosphorus (P) removal and recovery from wastewater is a sensible and sustainable choice in view of potential future P-resource scarcity, due to dwindling primary global reserves. P-recovery from wastewater, notwithstanding the relatively small fraction of total global amounts involved (less than 1/5 of total global use ends up in wastewater) could extend the lifespan of available reserves and improve wastewater cycle sustainability. The recovery of the resource, rather than its mere removal as ferric or aluminum salt, will still allow to achieve protection of receiving waters quality, while saving on P-sludge disposal costs. To demonstrate the possibility of such a recovery, a strategy combining enhanced biological phosphorus removal and mineral P-precipitation was studied, by considering possible process modifications of a large treatment facility. Process simulation, a pilot study, and precipitation tests were conducted. The results demonstrated that it would be possible to convert this facility from chemical -precipitation to its biological removal followed by mineral precipitation, with minimal structural intervention. Considerable P-recovery could be obtained, either in form of struvite or, more sustainably, as calcium phosphate, a mineral that also has possible fertilizing applications. The latter would present a cost about one order of magnitude lower than the former.
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P fertilizers are mainly derived from phosphate rock (PR), which is a non-renewable and limited reserved resource.
“P fertilizers are mainly derived from phosphate rock (PR), which is a non-renewable and limited reserved resource [4].”
From Efficient Phosphate Removal from Wastewater by Ca-Laden Biochar Composites Prepared from Eggshell and Peanut Shells: A Comparison of Methods (2023) · cites this paper as [4]
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Cites
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- Authors
- Tomei, M. C., Stazi, V., Daneshgar, S., & Capodaglio, A. G.
- Affiliations
- Water Research Institute (IT)
- University of Pavia (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Capodaglio, Andrea G.
- Venue
- Sustainability
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-01-12
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 575
- ISSN
- 2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2999990127
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 6.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Fondazione Cariplo (2014/0528)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Phosphorus and nutrient management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Keywords
- phosphorus recovery, municipal wastewater, enhanced biological phosphorus removal, struvite, calcium phosphate
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