The Microbial Electrochemical Current Accelerates Urea Hydrolysis for Recovery of Nutrients from Source-Separated Urine

This study demonstrates that a wastewater - Source-separated Urine' driven microbial electrochemical process greatly facilitates traditional rate-limiting urea hydrolysis and efficiently recovers ammonium and phosphate nutrients from source -separated urine. Using both synthetic and diluted actual urine and wastewater, 76-87% of nitrogen and 72-93% of phosphorus were continuously removed from source-separated urine and collected in recovery solutions. The acceleration of hydrolysis and nutrient recovery were driven by the electrical potential generated during wastewater treatment. The efficient nutrient recovery is attributed to the increase in the rate of hydrolysis induced by continuous ammonium migration and removal, which alleviates storage, health, and operational issues associated with the utilization of urine. Further investigations of removal behaviors conditions will be performed.