Struvite precipitation in wastewater treatment plants anaerobic digestion supernatants using a magnesium oxide by-product

Struvite precipitation is a well-known technology to recover and upcycle phosphorus from municipal wastewater as a slow-release fertiliser. However, the economic and environmental costs of struvite precipitation are constrained by using technical-grade reagents as a magnesium source. This research evaluates the feasibility of using a low-grade magnesium oxide (LG-MgO) by-product from the calcination of magnesite as a magnesium source to precipitate struvite from anaerobic digestion supernatants in wastewater treatment plants. Three distinct LG-MgOs were used in this research to capture the inherent variability of this by-product. The MgO content of the LG-MgOs varied from 42 % to 56 %, which governed the reactivity of the by-product. Experimental results showed that dosing LG-MgO at P:Mg molar ratio close to stoichiometry (i.e. 1:1 and 1:2) favoured struvite precipitation, whereas higher molar ratios (i.e. 1:4, 1:6 and 1:8) favoured calcium phosphate precipitation due to the higher calcium concentration and pH. At a P:Mg molar ratio of 1:1 and 1:2, the percentage of phosphate precipitated was 53-72 % and 89-97 %, respectively, depending on the LG-MgO reactivity. A final experiment was performed to examine the composition and morphology of the precipitate obtained under the most favourable conditions, which showed that (i) struvite was the mineral phase with the highest peaks intensity and (ii) struvite was present in two different shapes: hopper and polyhedral. Overall, this research has demonstrated that LG-MgO is an efficient source of magnesium for struvite precipitation, which fits the circular economy principles by valorising an industrial by-product, reducing the pressure on natural resources, and developing a more sustainable technology for phosphorus recovery.

Solidification/stabilization of electrolytic manganese residue using phosphate resource and low-grade MgO/CaO

In this study, P-LGMgO (low-grade MgO and NaH2PO4·2H2O), P-CaO (CaO and NaH2PO4·2H2O), and P-MgCa (low-grade MgO, CaO and NaH2PO4·2H2O) were used for the solidification/stabilization (S/S) of electrolytic manganese residue (EMR). Relevant characteristics such as ammonia nitrogen and manganese stabilization behavior, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), probable S/S mechanisms, and EMR leaching test were investigated. The results demonstrate that using P-LGMgO had higher stabilization efficiency than P-CaO and P-MgCa for the S/S of EMR at the same stabilization agent dose. The stabilization efficiency of ammonia nitrogen and manganese in the EMR were 84.0% and 99.9%, respectively, and the UCS of EMR was 5.1MPa using P-LGMgO process after curing for 28 days when the molar ratio of Mg:P was 5:1 and dose of stabilization agent was 12wt%. In this process, ammonia nitrogen was stabilized by struvite (NH4MgPO4·6H2O), and manganese by bermanite (Mn3(PO4)2(OH)2·4H2O) and pyrochroite (Mn(OH)2). The leaching test results show that the values of all the measured metals on the 28th day were within the permitted level for the GB8978-1996 test suggested by China's environmental protection law and the concentration of ammonia nitrogen can be reduced from 504.0mgL(-1) to 76.6mgL(-1).