Nutrient recovery from wastewater and reuse in agriculture: a review

Nutrient recovery from wastewater and recycling nutrients as soil fertilizers is a major challenge for the future circular economy. This is motivated by unregulated discharge of wastewater, poor access to fertilizers in developing countries and high fertilizer costs. Here, we review protocols of nutrient recovery from major wastewater sources such as agriculture, domestic and industrial wastewater. We provide an update on the reuse of the recovered nutrient as fertilizers in agriculture. Many effective strategies have been developed for nutrient recovery from wastewater. The reuse potential of the recovered nutrient as fertilizer is often based on postulations. Plant growth and yield potentials with recovered nutrients are either similar or better than that of the conventional fertilizer, in few experimental cases. Evaluation of reuse potentials of the recovered nutrient should involve field trials and not just pot experiments. The contamination of the recovered nutrient with toxic compounds should be avoided.

Automated summary

This article discusses the importance and challenges of nutrient recovery from wastewater and reuse as fertilizer. While many effective strategies have been developed for nutrient recovery, more field trials are needed to evaluate the reuse potential of recovered nutrients, and precautions should be taken to avoid contamination with toxic compounds.