scholarly journals Advances in Struvite Precipitation Technologies for Nutrients Removal and Recovery from Aqueous Waste and Wastewater

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Siciliano ◽  
Carlo Limonti ◽  
Giulia Maria Curcio ◽  
Raffaele Molinari

The abatement of nutrient compounds from aqueous waste and wastewater is currently a priority issue. Indeed, the uncontrolled discharge of high levels of nutrients into water bodies causes serious deteriorations of environmental quality. On the other hand, the increasing request of nutrient compounds for agronomic utilizations makes it strictly necessary to identify technologies able to recover the nutrients from wastewater streams so as to avoid the consumption of natural resources. In this regard, the removal and recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from aqueous waste and wastewater as struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) represents an attractive approach. Indeed, through the struvite precipitation it is possible to effectively remove the ammonium and phosphate content of many types of wastewater and to produce a solid compound, with only a trace of impurities. This precipitate, due to its chemical characteristics, represents a valuable multi-nutrients slow release fertilizer for vegetables and plants growth. For these reasons, the struvite precipitation technology constantly progresses on several aspects of the process. This manuscript provides a comprehensive review on the recent developments in this technology for the removal and recovery of nutrients from aqueous waste and wastewater. The theoretical background, the parameters, and the operating conditions affecting the process evolution are initially presented. After that, the paper focuses on the reagents exploitable to promote the process performance, with particular regard to unconventional low-cost compounds. In addition, the development of reactors configurations, the main technologies implemented on field scale, as well as the recent works on the use of struvite in agronomic practices are presented.

2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-Long Ye ◽  
Shao-Hua Chen ◽  
Min Lu ◽  
Jian-Wen Shi ◽  
Li-Feng Lin ◽  
...  

Recovering nitrogen and phosphorus through struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) crystallization from swine wastewater has gained increasing interest. However, swine wastewater contains complex compositions, which may hinder the formation of struvite crystal and affect the purity of the precipitates by forming other insoluble minerals. In this work, experiments were carried out to evaluate struvite precipitation in the anaerobically digested swine wastewater, with dosing bittern as a low-cost magnesium source. Exceeded 90% phosphate removal and 23–29% ammonium reduction were obtained. FTIR, XRD and mass balance analysis were combined to analyze the species of precipitated minerals. Results showed that the precipitates were struvite, mixed with amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) and brucite. The presence of Ca2+ diminished the percentage of struvite and gave rise to ACP formation. Controlling pH below 9.5 and bittern dosage above 1% (w/w) could inhibit ACP precipitation and harvest a highly pure struvite crystal product.


Author(s):  
Alemu Gizaw ◽  
Feleke Zewge ◽  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Andualem Mekonnen ◽  
Melakuu Tesfaye

Abstract Nitrogen and phosphorus removal and recovery are considered as one of the interventions to control water bodies' eutrophication by application of various methods. Adsorption is an effective method for phosphate and nitrate removal from wastewater. It is efficient, quick, easy, low-cost and environmentally friendly. Even though different adsorbents have been developed with excellent properties, lack of compilation, lack of consistency in operational conditions, and lack of other important parameters used for direct comparison and practical use selection were observed. The first aim of this review is to provide facts and figures on novel adsorbents used for nitrate, phosphate, and simultaneous nitrate-phosphate removal and recovery. Second, various adsorbents applied for nitrate and phosphate removal have been compared in terms of the number of cycles that the adsorbent used; retained removal capacity (RR); the removal capacity of the adsorbent considering the threshold limit settled by EU and EPA as equilibrium concentration for phosphate (q0.1) and nitrate (q10); and time to reach the equilibrium capacity (t90). Third, based on the aforementioned criteria, the best adsorbents are proposed and this is the key novelty of this review work. Moreover, future aspects and challenges regarding nitrate and phosphate removal and recovery are presented.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 217-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Reddad ◽  
C. Gérente ◽  
Y. Andrès ◽  
P. Le Cloirec

In the present work, sugar beet pulp, a common waste from the sugar refining industry, was studied in the removal of metal ions from aqueous solutions. The ability of this cheap biopolymer to sorb several metals namely Pb2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+ and Ni2+ in aqueous solutions was investigated. The metal fixation capacities of the sorbent were determined according to operating conditions and the fixation mechanisms were identified. The biopolymer has shown high elimination rates and interesting metal fixation capacities. A pseudo-second-order kinetic model was tested to investigate the adsorption mechanisms. The kinetic parameters of the model were calculated and discussed. For 8 × 10-4 M initial metal concentration, the initial sorption rates (v0) ranged from 0.063 mmol.g-1.min-1 for Pb2+ to 0.275 mmol.g-1.min-1 for Ni2+ ions, with the order: Ni2+ > Cd2+ > Zn2+ > Cu2+ > Pb2+. The equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir model and showed the following affinity order of the material: Pb2+ > Cu2+ > Zn2+ > Cd2+ > Ni2+. Then, the kinetic and equilibrium parameters calculated qm and v0 were tentatively correlated to the properties of the metals. Finally, equilibrium experiments in multimetallic systems were performed to study the competition of the fixation of Pb2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+ cations. In all cases, the metal fixation onto the biopolymer was found to be favourable in multicomponent systems. Based on these results, it is demonstrated that this biosorbent represents a low-cost solution for the treatment of metal-polluted wastewaters.


1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 53-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Rabinowitz ◽  
T. D. Vassos ◽  
R. N. Dawson ◽  
W. K. Oldham

A brief review of recent developments in biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal technology is presented. Guidelines are outlined of how current understanding of these two removal mechanisms can be applied in the upgrading of existing wastewater treatment plants for biological nutrient removal. A case history dealing with the upgrading of the conventional activated sludge process located at Penticton, British Columbia, to a biological nutrient removal facility with a design flow of 18,200 m3/day (4.0 IMGD) is presented as a design example. Process components requiring major modification were the headworks, bioreactors and sludge handling facilities.


1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.A. Clarke

Practical classes in neurophysiology reinforce and complement the theoretical background in a number of ways, including demonstration of concepts, practice in planning and performance of experiments, and the production and maintenance of viable neural preparations. The balance of teaching objectives will depend upon the particular group of students involved. A technique is described which allows the embedding of real compound action potentials from one of the most basic introductory neurophysiology experiments—frog sciatic nerve, into interactive programs for student use. These retain all the elements of the “real experiment” in terms of appearance, presentation, experimental management and measurement by the student. Laboratory reports by the students show that the experiments are carefully and enthusiastically performed and the material is well absorbed. Three groups of student derive most benefit from their use. First, students whose future careers will not involve animal experiments do not spend time developing dissecting skills they will not use, but more time fulfilling the other teaching objectives. Second, relatively inexperienced students, struggling to produce viable neural material and master complicated laboratory equipment, who are often left with little time or motivation to take accurate readings or ponder upon neurophysiological concepts. Third, students in institutions where neurophysiology is taught with difficulty because of the high cost of equipment and lack of specific expertise, may well have access to a low cost general purpose microcomputer system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1148-1166
Author(s):  
Ganjar Fadillah ◽  
Septian Perwira Yudha ◽  
Suresh Sagadevan ◽  
Is Fatimah ◽  
Oki Muraza

AbstractPhysical and chemical methods have been developed for water and wastewater treatments. Adsorption is an attractive method due to its simplicity and low cost, and it has been widely employed in industrial treatment. In advanced schemes, chemical oxidation and photocatalytic oxidation have been recognized as effective methods for wastewater-containing organic compounds. The use of magnetic iron oxide in these methods has received much attention. Magnetic iron oxide nanocomposite adsorbents have been recognized as favorable materials due to their stability, high adsorption capacities, and recoverability, compared to conventional sorbents. Magnetic iron oxide nanocomposites have also been reported to be effective in photocatalytic and chemical oxidation processes. The current review has presented recent developments in techniques using magnetic iron oxide nanocomposites for water treatment applications. The review highlights the synthesis method and compares modifications for adsorbent, photocatalytic oxidation, and chemical oxidation processes. Future prospects for the use of nanocomposites have been presented.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Susana Campuzano ◽  
Paloma Yáñez-Sedeño ◽  
José Manuel Pingarrón

The multifaceted key roles of cytokines in immunity and inflammatory processes have led to a high clinical interest for the determination of these biomolecules to be used as a tool in the diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and treatment of several diseases of great current relevance (autoimmune, neurodegenerative, cardiac, viral and cancer diseases, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes). Therefore, the rapid and accurate determination of cytokine biomarkers in body fluids, cells and tissues has attracted considerable attention. However, many currently available techniques used for this purpose, although sensitive and selective, require expensive equipment and advanced human skills and do not meet the demands of today’s clinic in terms of test time, simplicity and point-of-care applicability. In the course of ongoing pursuit of new analytical methodologies, electrochemical biosensing is steadily gaining ground as a strategy suitable to develop simple, low-cost methods, with the ability for multiplexed and multiomics determinations in a short time and requiring a small amount of sample. This review article puts forward electrochemical biosensing methods reported in the last five years for the determination of cytokines, summarizes recent developments and trends through a comprehensive discussion of selected strategies, and highlights the challenges to solve in this field. Considering the key role demonstrated in the last years by different materials (with nano or micrometric size and with or without magnetic properties), in the design of analytical performance-enhanced electrochemical biosensing strategies, special attention is paid to the methods exploiting these approaches.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3193
Author(s):  
Ana L. Santos ◽  
Maria-João Cebola ◽  
Diogo M. F. Santos

Environmental issues make the quest for better and cleaner energy sources a priority. Worldwide, researchers and companies are continuously working on this matter, taking one of two approaches: either finding new energy sources or improving the efficiency of existing ones. Hydrogen is a well-known energy carrier due to its high energy content, but a somewhat elusive one for being a gas with low molecular weight. This review examines the current electrolysis processes for obtaining hydrogen, with an emphasis on alkaline water electrolysis. This process is far from being new, but research shows that there is still plenty of room for improvement. The efficiency of an electrolyzer mainly relates to the overpotential and resistances in the cell. This work shows that the path to better electrolyzer efficiency is through the optimization of the cell components and operating conditions. Following a brief introduction to the thermodynamics and kinetics of water electrolysis, the most recent developments on several parameters (e.g., electrocatalysts, electrolyte composition, separator, interelectrode distance) are highlighted.


Author(s):  
Bochao Chen ◽  
Ming Liang ◽  
Qingzhao Wu ◽  
Shan Zhu ◽  
Naiqin Zhao ◽  
...  

AbstractThe development of sodium-ion (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) has increased rapidly because of the abundant resources and cost-effectiveness of Na and K. Antimony (Sb) plays an important role in SIBs and PIBs because of its high theoretical capacity, proper working voltage, and low cost. However, Sb-based anodes have the drawbacks of large volume changes and weak charge transfer during the charge and discharge processes, thus leading to poor cycling and rapid capacity decay. To address such drawbacks, many strategies and a variety of Sb-based materials have been developed in recent years. This review systematically introduces the recent research progress of a variety of Sb-based anodes for SIBs and PIBs from the perspective of composition selection, preparation technologies, structural characteristics, and energy storage behaviors. Moreover, corresponding examples are presented to illustrate the advantages or disadvantages of these anodes. Finally, we summarize the challenges of the development of Sb-based materials for Na/K-ion batteries and propose potential research directions for their further development.


1963 ◽  
Vol 67 (634) ◽  
pp. 651-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. R. Heppe

For many years, studies of various light aircraft designs have been carried on by the Lockheed-California Company in search of a vehicle that had the potential of truly generating the “air age”—a vehicle which would perform a useful service to many people, in many jobs. Shortly after the Second World War, these studies were directed along the lines of present-day light aeroplanes, but were eventually discarded upon recognition of the limited utility of these vehicles when related to general public acceptance. However, in 1959, spurred by recent developments in VTOL craft, the Lockheed research team again raised the question, “Is it possible today to develop a vehicle of low cost and with sufficient utility to reach the mass market?”


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