A new algorithm for design, operation and cost assessment of struvite (MgNH4PO4) precipitation processes

Phosphorus recovery and tetracycline Mitigation: The role of Bacillus cereus LB-9 in struvite biomineralization from wastewater

Struvite biomineralization is an ecologically sound technology, adept at the efficient recovery and recycling of phosphorus from wastewater. However, the biomineralization process is often perturbed by the presence of antibiotics, notably tetracycline (TC), the impact of which on the biomineralization system has not been elucidated. This study examines the efficacy of Bacillus cereus LB-9 in struvite biomineralization, focusing on the precipitates' composition, morphology, and TC content. LB-9 facilitate an alkaline environment that effectively recovering nitrogen and phosphorus. These findings indicate that TC retards the initial formation of struvite and the concurrent recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus. However, at concentrations below 10 mg/L TC concentrations, TC enhanced struvite production (0.38g) by stimulating LB-9's growth and metabolic activity. Conversely, at a concentration of 10 mg/L TC, the strain's activity was markedly suppressed within the initial four days. This data suggests that TC promotes the strain's proliferation and metabolism, potentially through cellular secretions, thereby augmenting phosphorus recovery from wastewater. Notably, the recovered struvite doesn't contain TC, aligning with regulatory standards for agricultural application. In summary, LB-9-mediated struvite recovery is an effective strategy for producing phosphorus-enriched fertilizers and mitigating TC contamination, offering significant implications for wastewater treatment and industrial process development, particularly in the context of prevalent TC in wastewater.

Sewage Sludge Management at District Level: Reduction and Nutrients Recovery via Hydrothermal Carbonization

In this study, two scenarios of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) are presented, which include the integration of the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process into the sludge line as a post-treatment of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The objective of the simulation is to investigate the performances of AD + HTC treatment to reduce sludge production and improve nutrient and energy recovery. For this purpose, the scheme of an under-construction WWTP was considered, named Trento 3 (Trento, Italy) and with a treatment capacity of 300,000 PE. In the first scenario, the HTC process was fed with thickened sludge from the Trento 3 WWTP, while in the second scenario, dewatered sludge from other local WWTPs was also used as feedstock for the HTC process. Both scenarios allowed to obtain a considerable sludge reduction ranging from 70 to 75% with a notably increase in the biogas production up to 47%, due to the recycling of HTC liquor (HTCL) to the anaerobic digester. Considering nutrients recovery, all the phosphorus and nitrogen present in the HTCL could be used for struvite precipitation with an average yearly gain of 1 million euros. Moreover, the introduction of HTC in the Trento 3 WWTP could allow a reduction in the sludge management costs of up to 2 M€/year.

Graphical Abstract

Effective removal of calcium and magnesium sulfates from wastewater in the rare earth industry

The wastewater discharged from the rare earth (RE) industry generally contains a high level of calcium and magnesium sulfates, which confers permanent hardness and causes difficulties in recycling this wastewater. In this study, the alkyl phenoxy acetic acid derivatives including 4-methyl phenoxy acetic acid (M-POAA), 4-tert-butyl phenoxy acetic acid (B-POAA) and 4-tert-octyl phenoxy acetic acid (O-POAA), were synthesized via the Williamson reaction and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared (IR), and ultra-violet (UV) spectroscopy, as well as elemental analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Synthesis of the POAAs were simple and green, and the raw materials used for their production are widely available and low-cost. The potential for removal of Ca and Mg sulfates from industrial wastewater using POAAs as the organic precipitants was assessed. The total precipitation efficiencies of Ca and Mg from wastewater with the use of POAAs increased with the following order: M-POAA < B-POAA < O-POAA. The residual concentrations of Ca and Mg using O-POAA as the precipitant were lower than 0.099 and 0.089 g L-1, respectively. The O-POAA could be regenerated five times without any significant change in its structure and precipitation performance. Thus, the use of the novel precipitants is a prospective alternative to the conventional processes for softening wastewater.

P-recovery in a pilot-scale struvite crystallisation reactor for source separated urine systems using seawater and magnesium chloride as magnesium sources

Practical recovery of a non-renewable nutrient, such as phosphorus (P), is essential to support modern agriculture in the near future. The high P content of urine, makes it an attractive source for practicing the recovery of this crucial nutrient. This paper presents the experimental results at pilot-plant scale of struvite crystallisation from a source-separated urine stream using two different magnesium sources, namely magnesium chloride and seawater. The latter was chosen as sustainable option to perform P-recovery in coastal areas. Real seawater was used to assess in a more realistic way its efficiency to precipitate P as struvite, since its composition (with noticeable concentration of ions such as Ca²⁺, SO₄^2-, Na⁺, …) could lead to the formation of impurities and other precipitates. 0.99 g of struvite was obtained per litre of urine irrespective of the operational conditions tested. In all tested conditions, precipitation efficiencies exceeded 90% and recovery efficiencies were higher than 87%, with an average struvite crystal size higher than 110 μm (and up to 320 μm, depending on the experimental conditions) in the harvested struvite samples. Almost pure struvite was obtained when MgCl₂ was used as precipitant, while amorphous calcium phosphate and other impurities appeared in the precipitates using seawater as magnesium source. However, the lower settling velocity of the amorphous precipitates in comparison with the struvite precipitates suggests that their separation at industrial scale could be relatively straightforward.

Selection of cost-effective magnesium sources for fluidized struvite crystallization

Struvite crystallization has been considered a promising approach to recover phosphorus from wastewater. However, its practical application is limited, probably because of the high cost of magnesium (Mg). In this study, a comprehensive economic analysis was conducted using five Mg sources (MgCl₂, MgSO₄, MgO, Mg(OH)₂, and bittern) during the operation of a pilot-scale fluidized bed reactor (FBR), using swine wastewater as the case matrix. First, the economic operating conditions were investigated, and subsequently, the performance and the costs of the five Mg sources were compared. The results indicated that the FBR could be operated most economically at pH of 8.5 and Mg to phosphorus (Mg/P) molar ratio of 1.5. Under these conditions, no significant differences in phosphorus removal and product quality could be found between the five Mg sources. Selecting the most economical Mg source was thus highly dependent on the prices of the reagents and Mg sources. Low-solubility Mg sources were preferable when NaOH was priced higher, while high-solubility Mg sources proved more economical when HNO₃ was expensive. The bittern was the most economical choice only when the distances for total inorganic orthophosphate removal and struvite recovery were shorter than 40 and 270km, respectively. The current study provides an overview of the economic selection of an Mg source, which can help reduce the cost of struvite crystallization.

A novel treatment processes of struvite with pretreated magnesite as a source of low-cost magnesium

By crystallization process, phosphorus can be recycled from wastewater. However, the reagent cost limits the application of struvite precipitation. Magnesite, as a low-cost magnesium source, can result in a cost savings, while the poor dissolution offset of low-cost reagent. In this study, most of the pyrolysate of magnesite was dissolved by changing the process of reagent addition; the solubility of the pyrolysate was increased at acid wastewater. The removal rate of phosphate by the pyrolysate was higher than that of magnesite, the phosphate removal rate was from 70.2 to 88.2% at 600 °C, 0.5 h to 1200 °C, 3 h. Phosphate removal rate was achieved optimal when calcination temperature was 700 °C at 2 h. By adding the pyrolysate to acid wastewater (pH ≤ 2) before NH₄Cl, phosphate removal rate was closed to that of MgCl₂ as magnesium source, while magnesite was priced at similar levels to lime.

Struvite Precipitation as a Means of Recovering Nutrients and Mitigating Ammonia Toxicity in a Two-Stage Anaerobic Digester Treating Protein-Rich Feedstocks

Accumulation of ammonia, measured as total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), a product of protein decomposition in slaughterhouse wastes, inhibits the anaerobic digestion process, reducing digester productivity and leading to failure. Struvite precipitation (SP) is an effective means to remove TAN and enhance the buffering of substrates. Different Mg and P sources were evaluated as reactants in SP in acidogenic digester effluents to reduce its TAN levels. In order to measure impact of TAN removal, a standard biochemical methane potential (BMP) test was conducted to measure methane yield from treatments that had the highest TAN reductions. SP results showed 6 of 9 reagent combinations resulted in greater than 70% TAN removal. The BMP results indicated that SP treatment by adding Mg(OH)₂ and H₃PO₄ resulted in 57.6% nitrogen recovery and 41.7% increase in methane yield relative to the substrate without SP. SP is an effective technology to improve nutrient recovery and methane production from the anaerobic digestion of protein-rich feedstocks.

Using co-metabolism to accelerate synthetic starch wastewater degradation and nutrient recovery in photosynthetic bacterial wastewater treatment technology

Starch wastewater is a type of nutrient-rich wastewater that contains numerous macromolecular polysaccharides. Using photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) to treat starch wastewater can reduce pollutants and enhance useful biomass production. However, PSB cannot directly degrade macromolecular polysaccharides, which weakens the starch degradation effect. Therefore, co-metabolism with primary substances was employed in PSB wastewater treatment to promote starch degradation. The results indicated that co-metabolism is a highly effective method in synthetic starch degradation by PSB. When malic acid was used as the optimal primary substrate, the chemical oxygen demand, total sugar, macromolecules removal and biomass yield were considerably higher than when primary substances were not used, respectively. Malic acid was the primary substrate that played a highly important role in starch degradation. It promoted the alpha-amylase activity to 46.8 U and the PSB activity, which induced the degradation of macromolecules. The products in the wastewater were ethanol, acetic acid and propionic acid. Ethanol was the primary product throughout the degradation process. The introduction of co-metabolism with malic acid to treat wastewater can accelerate macromolecules degradation and bioresource production and weaken the acidification effect. This method provides another pathway for bioresource recovery from wastewater. This approach is a sustainable and environmentally friendly wastewater treatment technology.