Global phosphorus recovery from wastewater for agricultural reuse
<p>Phosphorus is a nutrient necessary for the development of crops and is thus commonly applied as fertilizer to sustain agricultural production. It occurs naturally, in indefinite quantities of uncertain quality in phosphate rock formations, but also accumulates in urban and livestock wast...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2018-11-01
|
| Series: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/22/5781/2018/hess-22-5781-2018.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>Phosphorus is a nutrient necessary for the development of crops and is thus
commonly applied as fertilizer to sustain agricultural production. It occurs
naturally, in indefinite quantities of uncertain quality in phosphate rock
formations, but also accumulates in urban and livestock wastewater wherefrom
it is often lost as a pollutant. Recovering phosphorus from wastewater,
however, is feasible through struvite crystallization technologies and has
the potential to reduce phosphorus pollution of the environment as well as
lower the agricultural demand for artificial P fertilizers. In this study, we
developed a model to assess the global potential of P fertilizer recovery
from wastewater and to visualize its trade at sub-national resolution.
Results show that humans discharge a maximum of 3.7 Mt P into wastewater,
thereby potentially satisfying 20 % of the global fertilizer demand.
Provided 2015 market dynamics, however, the model determines that only
4 % of this discharge is technologically and economically recoverable in
a market that offers cheap rock phosphate products also. The results of this
study demonstrate that in the current economic context, phosphorus recovery
from wastewater offers only a small contribution to resolving global
phosphorus issues. Nevertheless, this recovery offers many wastewater
treatment facilities the opportunity to contribute to creating sustainable
communities and protecting the environment locally, while reducing their own
operational costs.</p> |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1027-5606 1607-7938 |