The phosphorus harvest from low-temperature mainstream wastewater through iron phosphate crystallization in a pilot-scale partial nitritation/anammox reactor

The phosphorus harvest along nitrogen removal in the partial nitritation/anammox (PNA) reactor is promising for sav-ing space and simplifying the management of mainstream wastewater treatment facilities. In this study, the phospho-rus recovery from the low-temperature mainstream wastewater was explored through iron phosphate crystallization in a pilot-scale PNA reactor. With the COD-alleviated municipal wastewater as the influent, the ammonium concentration of about 50 mg/L and the phosphorus concentration ranged from 5.4 to 7.1 mg/L, under the temperature of 15 degrees C and the addition of external ferrous iron of 14 mg/L, the achieved nitrogen removal efficiency and the phosphorus removal efficiency were 37.6 % and 62.7 %, respectively. The good settleability of sludge indicated that the formed iron phos-phate was well combined with the biomass. The quantitative analysis confirmed that the main iron phosphate in dry sludge was graftonite, and qualitative analysis confirmed that the equivalent of P2O5 content in the sludge was 5.8 %, which was suitable as fertilizer on agricultural land to realize the direct recycle of discharged phosphorus. In all, this study proposed a pioneering scheme to realize the nitrogen removal and phosphorus cycle in human society and given a meaningful reference for further research and application.

Automated summary

This study explored the recovery of phosphorus from low-temperature mainstream wastewater through iron phosphate crystallization in a pilot-scale PNA reactor. Under the influent of COD-alleviated municipal wastewater, with an ammonium concentration of about 50 mg/L and a phosphorus concentration ranging from 5.4 to 7.1 mg/L, the achieved nitrogen removal efficiency was 37.6% and the phosphorus removal efficiency was 62.7%. The study proposed a pioneering scheme to realize nitrogen removal and phosphorus cycling in human society and provided a meaningful reference for further research and application.