P-recovery in a pilot-scale struvite crystallisation reactor for source separated urine systems using seawater and...

Practical recovery of a non-renewable nutrient, such as phosphorus (P), is essential to support modern agriculture in the near future. The high P content of urine, makes it an attractive source for practicing the recovery of this crucial nutrient. This paper presents the experimental results at pilot-plant scale of struvite crystallisation from a source-separated urine stream using two different magnesium sources, namely magnesium chloride and seawater. The latter was chosen as sustainable option to perform P-recovery in coastal areas. Real seawater was used to assess in a more realistic way its efficiency to precipitate P as struvite, since its composition (with noticeable concentration of ions such as Ca²⁺, SO₄^2-, Na⁺, …) could lead to the formation of impurities and other precipitates. 0.99 g of struvite was obtained per litre of urine irrespective of the operational conditions tested. In all tested conditions, precipitation efficiencies exceeded 90% and recovery efficiencies were higher than 87%, with an average struvite crystal size higher than 110 μm (and up to 320 μm, depending on the experimental conditions) in the harvested struvite samples. Almost pure struvite was obtained when MgCl₂ was used as precipitant, while amorphous calcium phosphate and other impurities appeared in the precipitates using seawater as magnesium source. However, the lower settling velocity of the amorphous precipitates in comparison with the struvite precipitates suggests that their separation at industrial scale could be relatively straightforward.