Recovery of ammonium, phosphate and antioxidants from wastewater
Development of processes for valorization of municipal, agricultural and industrial wastewater through the removal and recovery of ammonium, phosphate and antioxidants by adsorption and ion exchange
Wastewater is increasingly considered as a resource rich in precious resources to be recovered in a circular economy perspective. The recent European legislation is strongly focused on phosphate recovery from wastewater, as phosphorous is a critical raw material whose reserved in Europe are extremely limited. In addition, nitrogen recovery allows to attain a relevant reduction both in the production of nitrogen-based fertilizers and in the removal of ammonium from wastewater.
This research activity includes:
- Batch and continuous mode tests for the screening and selection of both commercial and innovative adsorbents produced internally in UNIBO or in the framework of collaborations with other Institutions.
- Continuous breakthrough tests of ammonium , phosphate and antioxidants removal & recovery, aimed at optimizing the process operating conditions, such as bed height, empty bed contact time, superficial velocity.
- Optimization of the desorption agents and conditions in order to obtain a product usable for the production of fertilizers.
- Kinetic and fluid dynamic modeling of the process, using software such as Comsol Multyphysics and AspenPlus. The process simulation, calibrated using experimental data obtained in continuous mode, enables the investigation of the effect of different design parameters on process performance and the model-based design of full-scale processes.
- Economic analysis of the process. The analysis of investment and operational costs, based on the design of full-scale processes, is integrated by different scenarios in terms of revenues from the sales of the recovered products.
All tests are conducted with actual wastewater in order to take into account matrix effects. In the framework of this research line, a 120 L/day fully automated pilot plant aimed at the removal of ammonium and phosphate from municipal wastewater has been operated for 1 year at the Bologna wastewater treatment plant under real-world conditions.