ElsevierAcevedo Juárez, B.; Camiña, C.; Corona, JE.; Borrás Falomir, L.; Barat Baviera, R. (2015). The metabolic versatility of PAOs as an opportunity to obtain a highly P-enriched stream for further P-recovery. Chemical Engineering Journal. 270:459-467. doi:10.1016/j.cej.2015

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Nutrient recovery technologies are rapidly expanding due to the need for the appropriate recycling of key elements from waste resources in order to move towards a truly sustainable modern society based on the Circular Economy.Nutrient recycling is a promising strategy for reducing the depletion of non-renewable resources and the environmental impact linked to their extraction and manufacture. However, nutrient recovery technologies are not yet fully mature, as further research is needed to optimize process efficiency and enhance their commercial applicability. This paper reviews state-of-the-art of nutrient recovery, focusing on frontier technological advances and economic and environmental innovation perspectives. The potentials and limitations of different technologies are discussed, covering systems based on membranes, photosynthesis, crystallization and other physical and biological nutrient recovery systems (e.g. incineration, composting, stripping and absorption and enhanced biological phosphorus recovery).

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The biologically induced precipitation processes can be important in wastewater treatment, in particular treating raw wastewater with high calcium concentration combined with Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal. Currently, there is little information and experience in modelling jointly biological and chemical processes. This paper presents a calcium phosphate precipitation model and its inclusion in the Activated Sludge Model No 2d (ASM2d). The proposed precipitation model considers that aqueous phase reactions quickly achieve the chemical equilibrium and that aqueous-solid change is kinetically governed. The model was calibrated using data from four experiments in a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) operated for EBPR and finally validated with two experiments. The precipitation model proposed was able to reproduce the dynamics of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) formation and later crystallization to hydroxyapatite (HAP) under different scenarios. The model successfully characterised the EBPR performance of the SBR, including the biological, physical and chemical processes.

IWA PublishingBarat Baviera, R.; Serralta Sevilla, J.; Ruano García, MV.; Jiménez Douglas, E.; Ribes Bertomeu, J.; Seco Torrecillas, A.; Ferrer, J. (2013) INTRODUCTIONWhole wastewater treatment plant modelling is one of the most important topics for the scientific community. This issue has been tackled by two philosophical approaches: using separated models (which were developed for the different process units) that are connected to simulate the whole plant, or using one unique and general model for the whole plant. In 2004, the CALAGUA research group published the Biological Nutrient Removal Model Nº 1 (BNRM1, Seco et al., 2004) including different physical, chemical and biological processes taking place in a WWTP. The physical processes included were: settling and clarification processes (flocculated settling, hindered settling and thickening), volatile fatty acids elutriation and gas-liquid transfer. The chemical interactions considered were acid-base processes, where equilibrium conditions are assumed. The biological processes included were: organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus removal; acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis. This model has been successfully applied for the design and optimization of numerous WWTPs (Ruano et al., 2010). However, these applications showed that nitrogen removal via nitrite and chemical precipitation processes should be considered to properly simulate WWTPs.

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This research work proposes an innovative water resource recovery facility (WRRF) for the recovery of energy, nutrients and reclaimed water from sewage, which represents a promising approach towards enhanced circular economy scenarios. To this aim, anaerobic technology, microalgae cultivation, and membrane technology were combined in a dedicated platform. The proposed platform produces a high-quality solid- and coliform-free effluent that can be directly discharged to receiving water bodies identified as sensitive areas. Specifically, the content of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent was 45 mg COD·L−1, 14.9 mg N·L−1 and 0.5 mg P·L−1, respectively. Harvested solar energy and carbon dioxide biofixation in the form of microalgae biomass allowed remarkable methane yields (399 STP L CH4·kg−1 CODinf) to be achieved, equivalent to theoretical electricity productions of around 0.52 kWh per m3 of wastewater entering the WRRF. Furthermore, 26.6% of total nitrogen influent load was recovered as ammonium sulphate, while nitrogen and phosphorus were recovered in the biosolids produced (650 ± 77 mg N·L−1 and 121.0 ± 7.2 mg P·L−1).