Phosphate Recovery

photo: Albright and Wilson

Photo 1: the cascade of three stirred reactors.

Photo 2: top view of one reactor

Phosphate recovery installation at Putten, the Netherlands (Photos 1 and 2). Phosphates are recovered for recycling, as magnesium potassium phosphate, from 700 000 tonnes/year of calf manure. 
Process: Geochem Research and Delft University Earth Sciences.

Phosphate recovery as struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) from food industry waste waters at the Avebe plant, the Netherlands. Process: 150 m3/hour Crystalactor® DHV Water BV, Amersfoort, the Netherlands.

Why the future for phosphates lies in recycling

• The need to restore the phosphate cycle

• The EC Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and the protection of surface waters
• A vision for the future of the phosphate industry

• Limits to sludge spreading
• Advanced sewage treatment

• Chemical precipitation : the P-removal / P-recycling conundrum
• Biological P-removal : facilitating P-recovery

• Calcium phosphate formation : a raw material for industry as good as phosphate rock
• Struvite precipitation: making use of a natural phenomenon

• Application of the EC Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 
• Joint research and development between the water and phosphate industries
• Involvement of the animal waste industry