Abstract
Declining mineral resources, high fertilizer production cost and widespread eutrophication are calling for the recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewaters in the context of the circular economy. Among the currently available methods for nitrogen and phosphorus recovery from water, electrochemical coupling technologies with synergistic effects hold great promise. Here, we review the recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from water by electrochemical coupling technologies with focus on separate recovery of nitrogen, separate recovery of phosphorus and concurrent recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus. Limitations of traditional methods are presented. We observed that air stripping and membrane stripping are the main electrochemically coupling techniques for nitrogen recovery, while chemical precipitation and electrochemical induced precipitation are the main electrochemically coupling techniques for phosphorus recovery. We detail the coupling reasons, purposes, mechanisms, performance, as well as limitations of these electrochemical coupling systems.
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This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22276048), the Research and Development Plan of Key Areas in Hunan Province (2022SK2066), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2021JJ30125), and the Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Education Department (20K032).
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All authors contributed to the review. Wangwang Tang had the idea for the article. Literature search, data collection and analysis were performed by Jiaxin Du and Wangwang Tang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jiaxin Du, Wangwang Tang and T. David Waite, and all the other authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Du, J., Waite, T.D., Feng, J. et al. Coupled electrochemical methods for nitrogen and phosphorus recovery from wastewater: a review. Environ Chem Lett 21, 885–909 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-023-01561-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-023-01561-x