Phosphorus recovery - an overview of potentials and possibilities

Abstract

The endeavour towards a sustainable society has led to an interest in the recovery and recirculation or reuse of phosphorus from wastewater among environmentalists and politicians. In a recent interdisciplinary investigation commissioned by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, an attempt was made to evaluate different possibilities to recover phosphorus from wastewater or its fractions; systems based on source separation of urine or of combined toilet wastes, on the extraction of phosphorus from sludge, from ashes after incineration of sludge or from wastewater as well as the direct recirculation of hygienised digested and dewatered sludge were studied. Aspects like technology, environmental effects, resource economy, economy, markets, organisational aspects and user aspects were studied. In this overview the potential and possibility to recover and recirculate phosphorus from wastewater is discussed, mainly based on the findings in this investigation.