Recovery of Secondary Raw Materials from Industrial Waste Water

abstract

en

The recovery of secondary raw materials from waste water is an important and very current part of waste water treatment process, especially due to the increasingly stringent environmental policy on waste water discharge and also existing shortages in natural nutrient reserves. Equally important is environmental protection as these nutrients can often lead to water bodies pollution events such as eutrophication. Notably, industrial processes produce a large amount of waste water, often containing environmentally hazardous compounds. Industrial waste water very often contains a large amount of nutrients – particularly phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N). These two nutrients are both crucial for living organisms, as they are essential components of nucleic acids, amino acids, and chlorophyll. Therefore, both play critical roles in plant growth and food supply as the main components of fertilizers. Nutrient recovery works on the principle of 3R's: reduce, reuse and recycle. Many physical, biological, and chemical approaches to recover P and N from wastewater have been developed, including chemical precipitation, crystallization, adsorption and ion exchange processes, membrane processes, electrochemical processes, and biological processes. For example, waste water from biogas plants and industrial laundries is rich in nutrients and therefore is deemed as a source for the recovery of phosphorus and nitrogen. For that reason, these two types of industrial waste water were chosen for a more detailed study of the potential to reduce pollution of the environment as well as lower the demand for these nutrients. One of the possible technology for phosphorus and nitrogen recovery is struvite precipitation. Struvite is an effective slow-release fertilizer that could replace fertilizers produced from phosphate rock. Because of this, the paper will provide an in-depth description and analysis of the precipitation mechanism. Besides, chosen methods will be discussed in more detail, focusing on chemical and physical properties influencing the nutrient's recovery. Also, the energy intensity and efficiency will be examined, as well as its future prospects and applicability on an industrial scale.

The recovery of secondary raw materials from waste water is an important and very current part of waste water treatment process, especially due to the increasingly stringent environmental policy on waste water discharge and also existing shortages in natural nutrient reserves. Equally important is environmental protection as these nutrients can often lead to water bodies pollution events such as eutrophication. Notably, industrial processes produce a large amount of waste water, often containing environmentally hazardous compounds. Industrial waste water very often contains a large amount of nutrients – particularly phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N). These two nutrients are both crucial for living organisms, as they are essential components of nucleic acids, amino acids, and chlorophyll. Therefore, both play critical roles in plant growth and food supply as the main components of fertilizers. Nutrient recovery works on the principle of 3R's: reduce, reuse and recycle. Many physical, biological, and chemical approaches to recover P and N from wastewater have been developed, including chemical precipitation, crystallization, adsorption and ion exchange processes, membrane processes, electrochemical processes, and biological processes. For example, waste water from biogas plants and industrial laundries is rich in nutrients and therefore is deemed as a source for the recovery of phosphorus and nitrogen. For that reason, these two types of industrial waste water were chosen for a more detailed study of the potential to reduce pollution of the environment as well as lower the demand for these nutrients. One of the possible technology for phosphorus and nitrogen recovery is struvite precipitation. Struvite is an effective slow-release fertilizer that could replace fertilizers produced from phosphate rock. Because of this, the paper will provide an in-depth description and analysis of the precipitation mechanism. Besides, chosen methods will be discussed in more detail, focusing on chemical and physical properties influencing the nutrient's recovery. Also, the energy intensity and efficiency will be examined, as well as its future prospects and applicability on an industrial scale.

Waste Water Treatment; Recycling; Secondary Raw Materials; Phosphorus; Nitrogen

06.02.2022

University of Thessaly

Volos, Greece

978-618-84403-5-7

2653-8911

8th International Conference on "Energy, Sustainability and Climate Crisis" ESCC 2021 - Book of Abstracts

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