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4 | 2008
957
ABSTRACT
One of the major operational costs of phosphorus recovery as struvite is the cost of caustic
chemical that is added to maintain a desired level of operative pH. A study was conducted at the
Lulu Island Wastewater Treatment Plant (LIWWTP), Richmond, BC, using a struvite crystallizer and
a cascade stripper designed at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The stripper was tested
under different operating conditions to determine the effectiveness of CO2 stripping in increasing
the pH of the water matrix and thereby reducing caustic chemical use. This reduction is expected
to reduce the operational costs of struvite production. Throughout the project, a high percentage
(90%) of phosphorus removal was achieved under each condition. The cascade stripper was very
effective in saving caustic usage, ranging from 35% to 86%, depending on the operating
conditions. However, the stripper showed relatively poor performance regarding ammonia
stripping.
Key words
K. P. Fattah
D. S. Mavinic
F. A. Koch
Department of Civil Engineering,
University of British Columbia,
2002-6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC,
Canada V6T 1Z4
E-mail: parvez@interchange.ubc.ca;
dsm@civil.ubc.ca;
koch@civil.ubc.ca
N. Sabrina
International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC),
65-66, Bashu Lodge,
Alekanda, Barisal 8200,
Bangladesh
E-mail: nandinisabrina@yahoo.com
INTRODUCTION
The application of phosphorus recovery from municipal
32
[Mg2 ]total [NH
4 ]total [PO4 ]total and Ps equilibrium is
32
[Mg2 ]total, [NH
4 ]total, [PO4 ]total, as well as Ps equilibrium,
doi: 10.2166/wst.2008.722
958
K. P. Fattah et al. | CO2 stripper for reduced costs of phosphorus (struvite) recovery
these values are, the more efficient the stripping will be.
demonstrate the affect of aeration on phosphorus precipitation. Along with aeration, NaOH solution was also fed
continuously to increase the pH. They found that, by
increasing
the
aeration
intensity
from
2.l mg/L
to
METHODS
2
HCO2
3 ! CO2 " OH
Kirchmann (2004).
NH
4 $ NH3 H
Figure 1
959
K. P. Fattah et al. | CO2 stripper for reduced costs of phosphorus (struvite) recovery
Table 1
PH
Minimum
Temp
Cond
Mg
PO4ZP
NH3ZN
Molar Ratio
(8C)
(mS)
(mg/L)
(mg/L)
(mg/L)
Mg:P
7.2 15.3
Maximum 8.1 34
Average
7.6 25
4.11
N:P
4.1
42.6 500
0.01 18
12.48 17.4
100.0 916
0.39 36
77.7 782
0.17 23
7.01
9.8
Figure 2
was kept open. With the introduction of the airflow, the top
feed (in the form of MgCl2) was injected into the reactors,
Sample analyses
Several parameters were monitored and recorded each day.
These include grab samples of centrate and effluents for
determining Mg2 , NH42 and PO32
concentrations; pH,
4
temperature and conductivity of the centrate and effluents.
Feed and recycle flows were measured daily and adjusted
(if required). Caustic samples were collected and amount
of caustic used by the stripper was recorded daily. CO2
samples were collected from the seed hopper and clarifier
effluent.
Figure 3
K. P. Fattah et al. | CO2 stripper for reduced costs of phosphorus (struvite) recovery
960
Ammonia stripping
During some days, the molar removal of ammonium
exceeded that of magnesium and phosphate. The removal
of this extra amount of ammonia from the system might
be attributed to. Without the stripper, some stripping of
ammonia also occurs in the downpipe leading to the
clarifier.
|
Figure 4
Caustic use
Performance of crystallizer
The operating conditions of the crystallizer is given in
Table 2. The definition of the respective parameters can
be found in Fattah et al. (2008a).
Nutrient removal
The overall CO2 removal rate was 20% and 17%, during
this period.
(Munch & Barr 2001; Ueno & Fujii 2001; Zhang 2006).
Mg:P molar ratio of 1:1, the data presented here shows that
orthophosphates.
Table 2
Total feed
Centrate flow
Mg feed flow
Recycle flow
Total flow
Upflow velocity
Unit
(L/min)
(L/min)
(mL/min)
Recycle ratio
(L/min)
(L/min)
pH
(cm/min)
(L/min)
Value
2.61
2.51
100
15.63
18.24
8.1
400
107.5
K. P. Fattah et al. | CO2 stripper for reduced costs of phosphorus (struvite) recovery
961
Table 3
Table 4
Without
Strippers
With Strippers
Run 1
Run 2p
Run 3
90
90
90
10
14.5
66
75
39
2.44E-03
2.42E-03
1.55E-03
5.73E-03
2.98E-03
7.66E-03
2.19E-03
2.28E-03
1.13E-03
0.9:2.3:1
0.9:1.2:1
0.7:4.9:1
1.23
Without Strippers
With Strippers
Run 1
Run 2p
Run 3
1.23
0.84
0.91
0.39
0.32
32
26
1.00
0.82
12,200
10,000
54,500
44,500
0.84
0.91
32
26
20
17
COST STUDY
in place. Moreover, cleanup of the stripper was straightfor-
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results from the pilot-scale study of phosphorus recovery with carbon dioxide stripping, the followFigure 5
962
K. P. Fattah et al. | CO2 stripper for reduced costs of phosphorus (struvite) recovery
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Natural Science and
Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Metro
Vancouver, Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc.
and Stantec Consulting Ltd., for their generous funding
towards this study. Also, deeply appreciated is the helping
hand provided by staff at the Lulu Island Wastewater
Treatment Plant.
REFERENCES
Adnan, A., Mavinic, D. S. & Koch, F. A. 2003 Pilot-scale study of
phosphorus recovery through struvite crystallization
examining the process feasibility. J. Environ. Eng. Sci. 2,
315 324.
Battistoni, P., De Angelis, A., Pavan, P., Prisciandaro, M. & Cecchi, F.
2001 Phosphorus removal from a real anaerobic supernatant by
struvite crystallization. Water Res. 35(9), 2167 2178.
Berg, E. 1982 Handbook for Sampling and Sample Preservation for
Water and Wastewater. United States Environmental
Monitoring and Support Laboratory, USEPA, Cincinnati,
Ohio, USA.
Britton, A., Koch, F. A., Mavinic, D. S., Adnan, A., Oldham, W. K.
& Udala, B. 2005 Pilot scale struvite recovery from anaerobic