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The effects and mechanism of alkalinity on the phosphate recovery from anaerobic digester effluent using dolomite lime

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Abstract

The alkalinity plays an important role in phosphate removal. Precipitate in the Mg2+–Ca2+–NH4 +–PO4 3− system has been researched to understand the phosphate recovery from anaerobic digester effluent. This project investigated the usefulness of a chemical equilibrium model, Visual Minteq3.0, for prescribing the ionic form of CO2. In the present study, a series of jar test was conducted using dolomite lime (DL) to evaluate the function of alkalinity during the precipitate reaction. Over a range of PO4 3−–P (20, 60, and 120 mg/L), the addition of alkalinity (0–8 g/L) was found to decrease the removal rate of phosphate. However, the result showed that the impact was definite when the maximum of inhibition reached. The removal rate of phosphate reduced 4.80, 11.49 and 9.19 % under the effect of alkalinity. The recovered products were detected and analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer, which were proved to be struvite and calicite. Finally, our experiment showed that the struvite precipitation was kinetically favored over hydroxyapatite. The precipitation mechanisms in the DL-treated wastewater were researched and explained by the kinetic experiment.

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Acknowledgment

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51078339).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People’s Republic of China

    Xueyu Liu & Yonghui Song

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    Xueyu Liu, Liancheng Xiang, Yonghui Song & Feng Qian

  3. Department of Urban Water Environmental Research, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    Xueyu Liu, Liancheng Xiang, Yonghui Song & Feng Qian

  4. Center for Environmental Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA

    Xiaoguang Meng

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  1. Xueyu Liu
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  2. Liancheng Xiang
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  3. Yonghui Song
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  4. Feng Qian
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  5. Xiaoguang Meng
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Correspondence to Yonghui Song.

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Liu, X., Xiang, L., Song, Y. et al. The effects and mechanism of alkalinity on the phosphate recovery from anaerobic digester effluent using dolomite lime. Environ Earth Sci 73, 5067–5073 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4335-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4335-5

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