120
4 Nitrogen and Phosphorous Recovery from Municipal Wastewater …
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies scaled up the facility to 20 times the original installation size that is the largest operation of its kind in Canada. The scaled-up
facility recovers 85% of phosphorous and 25% of nitrogen from the biosolids settling
lagoons and produces 1800 tonnes of Crystal Green fertilizer per year. The advantages
of the process are the low-carbon footprint and protecting waterways from nutrient
pollution. In addition, the process provides significant cost savings for wastewater
treatment plants. Compared to other technologies that require chemical treatment
to produce struvite, the Ostara process provides fewer operation, maintenance and
capital cost. The Ostara technology has nine commercially operating facilities in
Canada, US and Europe including the one at Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in
Cicero, IL, which is the world’s largest nutrient recovery facility. Another full-scale
installation of the process is located in Japan, with a phosphorus-rich filtrate from a
sludge dewatering process as the influent of the process. The facility in Japan has the
treatment capacity of 45,000 m
3 /day and produces 500–550 kg of struvite per day
[13, 49–51].
The KREPO technology for phosphorous recovery was developed in Sweden
and a full-scale system was operated in 1995 at the Öresundsverket wastewater
treatment plant in Helsingborg. It used sludge and resources such as sulfuric acid,
sodium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide in the quantities of 200 kg, 200 kg, and
12 kg per dry metric ton (MT), respectively, to produce 27 kg of phosphorous,
515 kg of ferric phosphate/hydroxide, and 38 kg of ferrous iron per dry MT [13].
The Kemicond technology is a modification of the KREPO technology developed
in 2003 and started up in Stockholm at the Käppala wastewater treatment plant.
Since no pressurized heated reactor is used in the process, it is less complex than
the KREPO technology. The main purpose of the Käppala project was to improve
sludge dewatering characteristics and to reduce sludge volume for transportation, so
the focus of the project was not on phosphorous recovery. The technology was then
used at the Taskila wastewater treatment plant in Oulu, Finland for treating the city’s
wastewater sludge, with the installation capacity of 150,000 P.E [13].
The first large-scale pilot plant for the Seaborne technology developed in
Germany, was built between 2005 and 2006 at the Gifthorn wastewater treatment
plant. This technology is capable of recovering multiple nutrients with no heavy
metals and organic impurities as well as producing H 2 S-free biogas. However, it is
more complicated compared to other technologies [13]. Other technologies such as
BioCon, SEPHOS and SUSAN have not been demonstrated in full-scale yet. The
BioCon process has been applied at a pilot-plant scale in Aelborg, Denmark and the
SEPHOS and SUSAN have been initiated in Germany and Europe, respectively [13].
The operation of onsite nutrient recovery technologies may encounter different
limitations in terms of maintenance, noise, odor and need for trained operators.
Most of the facilities such as the ones involving chemical precipitation like struvite,
require continuous chemical dosing, storage and handling. Biological processes can
be operated without chemical addition, but they are rather complex and are sensitive
to shock loadings. Moreover, separation of nutrients and fertilizers require additional processing with chemical dosing. The chemical addition and complexity of
4 Nitrogen and Phosphorous Recovery from Municipal Wastewater …
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies scaled up the facility to 20 times the original installation size that is the largest operation of its kind in Canada. The scaled-up
facility recovers 85% of phosphorous and 25% of nitrogen from the biosolids settling
lagoons and produces 1800 tonnes of Crystal Green fertilizer per year. The advantages
of the process are the low-carbon footprint and protecting waterways from nutrient
pollution. In addition, the process provides significant cost savings for wastewater
treatment plants. Compared to other technologies that require chemical treatment
to produce struvite, the Ostara process provides fewer operation, maintenance and
capital cost. The Ostara technology has nine commercially operating facilities in
Canada, US and Europe including the one at Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in
Cicero, IL, which is the world’s largest nutrient recovery facility. Another full-scale
installation of the process is located in Japan, with a phosphorus-rich filtrate from a
sludge dewatering process as the influent of the process. The facility in Japan has the
treatment capacity of 45,000 m
3 /day and produces 500–550 kg of struvite per day
[13, 49–51].
The KREPO technology for phosphorous recovery was developed in Sweden
and a full-scale system was operated in 1995 at the Öresundsverket wastewater
treatment plant in Helsingborg. It used sludge and resources such as sulfuric acid,
sodium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide in the quantities of 200 kg, 200 kg, and
12 kg per dry metric ton (MT), respectively, to produce 27 kg of phosphorous,
515 kg of ferric phosphate/hydroxide, and 38 kg of ferrous iron per dry MT [13].
The Kemicond technology is a modification of the KREPO technology developed
in 2003 and started up in Stockholm at the Käppala wastewater treatment plant.
Since no pressurized heated reactor is used in the process, it is less complex than
the KREPO technology. The main purpose of the Käppala project was to improve
sludge dewatering characteristics and to reduce sludge volume for transportation, so
the focus of the project was not on phosphorous recovery. The technology was then
used at the Taskila wastewater treatment plant in Oulu, Finland for treating the city’s
wastewater sludge, with the installation capacity of 150,000 P.E [13].
The first large-scale pilot plant for the Seaborne technology developed in
Germany, was built between 2005 and 2006 at the Gifthorn wastewater treatment
plant. This technology is capable of recovering multiple nutrients with no heavy
metals and organic impurities as well as producing H 2 S-free biogas. However, it is
more complicated compared to other technologies [13]. Other technologies such as
BioCon, SEPHOS and SUSAN have not been demonstrated in full-scale yet. The
BioCon process has been applied at a pilot-plant scale in Aelborg, Denmark and the
SEPHOS and SUSAN have been initiated in Germany and Europe, respectively [13].
The operation of onsite nutrient recovery technologies may encounter different
limitations in terms of maintenance, noise, odor and need for trained operators.
Most of the facilities such as the ones involving chemical precipitation like struvite,
require continuous chemical dosing, storage and handling. Biological processes can
be operated without chemical addition, but they are rather complex and are sensitive
to shock loadings. Moreover, separation of nutrients and fertilizers require additional processing with chemical dosing. The chemical addition and complexity of