Full-scale phosphorus recovery from digested waste water sludge in Belgium - part I: technical achievements and challenges.
To date, phosphorus recovery as struvite in wastewater treatment plants has been mainly implemented on water phases resulting from dewatering processes of the sludge line. However, it is possible to recover struvite directly from sludge phases. Besides minimising the return loads of phosphorus from the sludge line to the water line, placing such a process within the sludge line is claimed to offer advantages such as a higher recovery potential, enhanced dewaterability of the treated sludge, and reduced speed of scaling in pipes and dewatering devices. In the wastewater treatment plant at Leuven (Belgium), a full-scale struvite recovery process from digested sludge has been tested for 1 year. Several monitoring campaigns and experiments provided indications of the efficiency of the process for recovery. The load of phosphorus from the sludge line returning to the water line as centrate accounted for 15% of the P-load of the plant in the reference situation. Data indicated that the process divides this phosphorus load by two. An improved dewaterability of 1.5% of dry solids content was achieved, provided a proper tuning of the installation. Quality analyses showed that the formed struvite was quite pure.
Aquafin NV, Dijkstraat 8, B-2630 Aartselaar, Belgium E-mail: adrien.marchi@aquafin.be.
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Marchi
Aquafin NV, Dijkstraat 8, B-2630 Aartselaar, Belgium E-mail: adrien.marchi@aquafin.be.
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Geerts
Aquafin NV, Dijkstraat 8, B-2630 Aartselaar, Belgium E-mail: adrien.marchi@aquafin.be.
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Weemaes
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Schiettecatte
VITO NV, Boeretang 200, B-2400 Mol, Belgium.
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Wim
VITO NV, Boeretang 200, B-2400 Mol, Belgium.
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Vanhoof
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Christine
D001530:Belgium; D019149:Bioreactors; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000737:chemistry*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods
D010758:Phosphorus; D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical