Precipitation and recovery of phosphorus from the wastewater hydrolysis tank

Phosphorus, a limited resource, is also an environmental pollutant that should be removed from wastewater and ideally reused. A pilot-scale facility was set up and used to precipitate and recover phosphorus from wastewater. The return activated sludge in a hydrolysis tank was flocculated and separated and the solid material returned to the hydrolysis tank; the flocculation process did not harm the microorganisms. Phosphate in the reject water was precipitated with different calcium salts and the phosphorus-containing precipitate recovered. The precipitate consisted mainly of phosphate and calcium, and under 5% of the final product consisted of iron and aluminum. Around 20% of the precipitate was organic material. The pilot-scale test was supplemented with bench-scale tests using calcium salt, magnesium salt, and NaOH/KOH. Without the addition of calcium ions, phosphate could be precipitated by increasing pH to 9.5, resulting in a concentration of phosphorus in the reject water of under 2 mg/L. If calcium salt was added (Ca:P ratio of 2:1), it was possible to remove phosphate at pH 9 (<1 mg/L). In general, the concentration of dissolved phosphate was 8–10 mg/L lower after precipitation when calcium salt was used compared with all other tested salts. This difference increased if additional phosphate was added to the sludge. The bench- and pilot-scale experiments yielded comparable data. At the pilot-scale facility, it was possible to remove 90% of the phosphate by adding calcium salt and regulating the pH to 8.5.