Nutrient recovery from wastewater
The role of wastewater treatment is moving from the removal of substances to the recycling of resources. The main content of wastewater – water, energy, nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic matter – can be recovered. We need to start using more recycled phosphorus, because sooner or later, the most common phosphorus resource, inorganic phosphate rock, will be depleted. Municipal wastewater does not necessarily contain the largest streams of phosphorus, but the recovery makes sense due to relatively high concentrations and existing centralized treatment facilities. Resource recovery in the wastewater treatment process opens the possibility of converting the carbon footprint of the treatment significantly positive – by recovery and recycling; carbon emissions can be avoided.
NPHarvest project - solution for converting wastewater nutrients into eco-friendly fertilizer.
NPHarvest is a process developed by Aalto University researchers that allows for the recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus in a way that produces clean ammonium salts, which can be used as fertiliser, and a sludge rich in phosphorus and calcium. The strength of the NPHarvest process is that it can be applied to different strong liquid waste streams and produce various valuable products with low energy requirements. So far, the process has been tested with separately collected urine, reject waters from a municipal sewage digestion process and a biogas plant, leachate from a landfill and percolation liquid from an agricultural dry digestion system. More information can be obtained from the project page below.
Contact person:
Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen
[email protected]
Microalgae and fungi bioreactors project with the Finnish Environmental Protection Agency.
Microalgae can be used to recover nutrients and produce high-quality biomass in large quantities. This biomass can be further processed into high-added value end products such as raw material for biofuels and biogas or animal feed and fertilizers. In the process, fungi are used to enhance phase separation and dewatering. This project is carried out in collaboration with the Finnish Environmental Protection Agency.
Contact person:
Danielle Bansfield
[email protected]
Vivianite recovery project with INSA Toulouse and SIAAP.
Phosphorus is often removed from wastewater using iron salts. In certain conditions iron and phosphorus will form vivianite which is a good slow-release fertilizer but also allows for higher added value end-products. In countries where nutrient removal is not applied efficiently, this kind of valuable end-products could be the driving force for enhancing wastewater treatment. The goal in this project is to study ways of maximizing the vivianite production in the bioprocesses of wastewater and sludge treatment. Another goal is to explore ways of decreasing the need for iron addition by focusing on optimization of iron and phosphorus interactions.
The project is carried out together with Toulouse University (INSA, Toulouse Biotechnology Institute) in France and with water utility partners SIAAP (the greater Paris Sanitation Authority) and Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY.
Contact person:
Lobna Amin
[email protected]
Project on synthesis and modification of novel mine waste based geopolymers for wastewater treatment.
The project develops novel geopolymer composites based on mine wastes. Modifications will improve the adsorptive performance of the material, and selective removal of harmful metals can be achieved. Application in phosphorus removal will also be assessed.
Contact person:
Thandie Marata
[email protected]
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