Integrated Sorption Technologies for Recovery of Nitrogen and Phosphorous from Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Permeates
Wayne Parker, University of Waterloo
Municipal utilities spend considerable time, energy and chemicals to remove phosphorous and nitrogen compounds like ammonia and ammonium from municipal wastewaters. Removing these nutrients is expensive and often not commercially feasible; however, even in low concentrations phosphorous and nitrogen can degrade water quality. This 2013-2015 project created an effluent of specific, elevated, concentrated feedstock amenable to methods such as the Ostara process (a struvite recovery technology) to generate fertilizer from wastewater, and developed a more economical treatment to collect ammonium nitrogen and regenerate exhausted zeolite for AnMBR permeates. The new processes developed through this project could eliminate the need for energy intensive nitrification processes and/or the need for the addition of chemicals for phosphorous removal, and will help municipalities to meet strict effluent regulations.
