Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource Efficiency
In the context of struvite precipitation, the most significant gap pertains to the transfer of knowledge from scientific research to practical applications. The primary objective of this study is twofold: firstly, to identify the most critical process parameters influencing struvite precipitation an...
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2025-03-01
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| author | Andreas Kolb Tim Gebhardt Thomas Dockhorn |
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| description | In the context of struvite precipitation, the most significant gap pertains to the transfer of knowledge from scientific research to practical applications. The primary objective of this study is twofold: firstly, to identify the most critical process parameters influencing struvite precipitation and, secondly, to translate these parameters into a pragmatic tool for real-world applications. This study investigates the precipitation of struvite from digestion centrate to obtain information on the appropriate precipitation conditions for different initial chemical compositions. We carried out 24 lab-scale experiments to investigate the effect of varying pH value (7.0–8.5), temperature (5 °C and 33 °C) and initial phosphate concentrations (353; 165; 68 mg/L) on struvite precipitation. Varying the pH had the strongest influence on precipitation efficiencies. Adjusting pH from 7 to 8.5 increased PO<sub>4</sub>-P removal from 1.4% to 98.8%, whereas temperature had little impact on PO<sub>4</sub>-P removal. Furthermore, we found that a saturation index of at least 1.7 is imperative to precipitate at least 90% of the available PO<sub>4</sub>-P. Based on the results, we developed a nomogram showing the resulting saturation index and the associated PO<sub>4</sub>-P removal efficiency for variable initial PO<sub>4</sub>-P and pH levels. The tool developed in this study enables users to directly identify the so-called ‘sweet spot’, which is the optimal balance between process effectiveness and resource efficiency, for each centrate. |
| format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj-art-b7d79dcc32ad472082a5f35eafbe9cf72025-08-20T02:18:10ZengMDPI AGResources2079-92762025-03-011445610.3390/resources14040056Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource EfficiencyAndreas Kolb0Tim Gebhardt1Thomas Dockhorn2Institute of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Pockelsstraße 2a, 38106 Braunschweig, GermanyInstitute of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Pockelsstraße 2a, 38106 Braunschweig, GermanyInstitute of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Pockelsstraße 2a, 38106 Braunschweig, GermanyIn the context of struvite precipitation, the most significant gap pertains to the transfer of knowledge from scientific research to practical applications. The primary objective of this study is twofold: firstly, to identify the most critical process parameters influencing struvite precipitation and, secondly, to translate these parameters into a pragmatic tool for real-world applications. This study investigates the precipitation of struvite from digestion centrate to obtain information on the appropriate precipitation conditions for different initial chemical compositions. We carried out 24 lab-scale experiments to investigate the effect of varying pH value (7.0–8.5), temperature (5 °C and 33 °C) and initial phosphate concentrations (353; 165; 68 mg/L) on struvite precipitation. Varying the pH had the strongest influence on precipitation efficiencies. Adjusting pH from 7 to 8.5 increased PO<sub>4</sub>-P removal from 1.4% to 98.8%, whereas temperature had little impact on PO<sub>4</sub>-P removal. Furthermore, we found that a saturation index of at least 1.7 is imperative to precipitate at least 90% of the available PO<sub>4</sub>-P. Based on the results, we developed a nomogram showing the resulting saturation index and the associated PO<sub>4</sub>-P removal efficiency for variable initial PO<sub>4</sub>-P and pH levels. The tool developed in this study enables users to directly identify the so-called ‘sweet spot’, which is the optimal balance between process effectiveness and resource efficiency, for each centrate.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/14/4/56magnesium–ammonium–phosphatephosphorous recoveryanaerobic digestion centratenutrient recyclingsaturation index |
| spellingShingle | Andreas Kolb Tim Gebhardt Thomas Dockhorn Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource Efficiency Resources magnesium–ammonium–phosphate phosphorous recovery anaerobic digestion centrate nutrient recycling saturation index |
| title | Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource Efficiency |
| title_full | Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource Efficiency |
| title_fullStr | Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource Efficiency |
| title_full_unstemmed | Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource Efficiency |
| title_short | Struvite Precipitation from Centrate—Identifying the Best Balance Between Effectiveness and Resource Efficiency |
| title_sort | struvite precipitation from centrate identifying the best balance between effectiveness and resource efficiency |
| topic | magnesium–ammonium–phosphate phosphorous recovery anaerobic digestion centrate nutrient recycling saturation index |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/14/4/56 |
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