Phosphate removal processes from wastewater

Phosphate removal processes from wastewater have been studied by many workers, in order to protect stagnant water area, such as lakes and coastal region from eutrophication. Among conventional phosphate removal processes, the representative one was flocculation and sedimentation process, which was based on precipitation of insoluble metal phosphate or hydroxide. However, the main problem with this process, is to produce large amounts of sludge, which is difficult to dehydrate. 

Lu, N.C. Liu, J.C. (2010) Removal of phosphate and fluoride from wastewater by a hybrid precipitation-microfiltration process. Separation and Purification Technology, 74, 329-335. 

Chimenos, J.M. et al.. Removal of ammonium and phosphates from wastewater resulting from process of cochineal extraction using MgO-containing by-product. Water Res., 37, 1601, 2003. 

We have proposed a fluidized bed type process, which can be applied to phosphate removal from wastewater containing phosphate 2-23 mg/jg as P.By the results of experiments using equipment of capacity l-4m3 /day, factors such as supersaturation, recirculation ratio and space velocity were recognized to affect crystallization rate or phosphate removal efficiency. By mathematical analysis, we could obtain the characteristic equation for fluidized bed process, to agree well with experimental results. 

Table 1 shows the performance of fixed bed type process, in application to various wastewaters. The merit of this process is stability in ability of phosphate removal and low sludge production. Sludge production of this process is from 1/5 to 1/10 lower than that of the conventional flocculation and sedimentation process. 

We have now proposed fluidized bed type process, which can be applied to wastewater, containing from 2 to 23 mg/jg phosphate as P. This report reveals fundamental studies on factors affecting phosphate removal and crystallization rate in the fluidized bed process. 

PHOSPAQ [Phosphate Paques] A process for removing phosphate from wastewater by precipitation as struvite (ammonium magnesium phosphate). The struvite can be used as a fertilizer. Developed and offered by Paques, the Netherlands. 

The raw minerals mined from natural deposits comprise mixtures of different specific minerals. An early step in mineral processing is to use crushing and grinding to free these various minerals from each other. In addition, these same processes may be used to reduce the mineral particle sizes to make them suitable for a subsequent separation process. Non-ferrous metals such as copper, lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, mercury, and antimony are typically produced from mineral ores containing these metals as sulfides (and sometimes as oxides, carbonates, or sulfates) [91,619,620], The respective metal sulfides are usually separated from the raw ores by flotation. Flotation processes are also used to concentrate non-metallic minerals used in other industries, such as calcium fluoride, barium sulfate, sodium and potassium chlorides, sulfur, coal, phosphates, alumina, silicates, and clays [91,619,621], Other examples are listed in Table 10.2, including the recovery of ink in paper recycling (which is discussed in Section 12.5.2), the recovery of bitumen from oil sands (which is discussed further in Section 11.3.2), and the removal of particulates and bacteria in water and wastewater treatment (which is discussed further in Section 9.4). 

---