Domestic source of phosphorus to sewage treatment works

Abstract

Phosphorus is an element essential for life. Concerns regarding long-term security of supply and issues related to eutrophication of surface waters once released into the aquatic environment have led governments to consider and apply measures for reducing the use and discharge of phosphorus. Examples of source control include legislation to reduce phosphorus use in domestic detergents. This research shows that other domestic sources of phosphorus also contribute significantly to the domestic load to sewer and that overall, domestic sources dominate loads to sewage treatment works. Estimates provided here show that although the natural diet contributes 40% of the domestic phosphorus load, other potentially preventable sources contribute significantly to the estimated 44,000 tonnes of phosphorus entering UK sewage treatment works each year. In the UK, food additives are estimated to contribute 29% of the domestic load; automatic dishwashing detergents contribute 9% and potentially increasing; domestic laundry 14%, including contributions from phosphonates, but decreasing; phosphorus dosing to reduce lead levels in tap water 6%; food waste disposed of down the drain 1%; and personal care products 1%. Although UK data is presented here, it is anticipated that similar impacts would be expected for other developed economies. Consideration of alternatives to all preventable sources of phosphorus from these sources would therefore offer potentially significant reductions in phosphorus loads to sewage treatment works and hence to the aquatic environment. Combining all source control measures and applying them to their maximum extent could potentially lead to the prevention of over 22,000 tonnes-P/year entering sewage treatment works.

Black‐Phosphorus‐Incorporated Hydrogel as a Sprayable and Biodegradable Photothermal Platform for Postsurgical Treatment of Cancer

“…BP nanosheets are a type of 2D nanomaterials with unique properties such as a tunable band gap, high NIR absorption, and high photothermal conversion efficiency 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40. As an inorganic nanoagent, BP nanosheets are attractive due to the inherent biocompatibility since phosphorus is a vital element, especially in bones, making up about 1% of the human body weight 41, 42, 43. Moreover, BP nanosheets degrade naturally in the physiological environment forming harmless PO 4 3− as the final degradation product 44, 45, 46.…”

The fluvial flux of total reactive and total phosphorus from the UK in the context of a national phosphorus budget: comparing UK river fluxes with phosphorus trade imports and exports

“…Villalba et al (2008) do not give values broken down such that they could be used for the UK. Comber et al (2013) studied the domestic consumption of P in the UK and showed that the average per capita discharge to sewage treatment works was 2.05 g P/day/ca of which 0.8 g P/day/ca was food and the rest was non-food items. Therefore, import of P in industrial goods represents 1.205 g P/day/ca and annual records of the UK population from 1973 to 2012 were used to calculate the import of P as industrial goods.…”

Estimating the leakage contribution of phosphate dosed drinking water to environmental phosphorus pollution at the national-scale

“…Hayes (2010) showed that old in-situ pipes may take up to 2 -3 years to reach equilibrium with the phosphate dose. Once at equilibrium, the concentration at the tap is the same the concentration used to dose the water (Comber et al, 2013a). Given that extensive dosing has occurred in England and Wales for over 10 years (UK Water Industry Research Ltd, 2012), it is assumed that concentrations of P do not change significantly within the distribution network and that an average concentration of 1000 µg P/l occurs throughout the network.…”

“…It is estimated that the input of P from dosing represents around 6% of the P input into sewage treatment works (Comber et al, 2013a). However, a significant proportion of water pumped into supply is also lost due to leakage.…”