From molecular to large-scale phosphorous recovery from wastewater using cost-effective adsorbents: An integrated approach

Phosphorus (P) recovery from wastewater will become increasingly vital in the future in terms of the protection of valuable freshwater resources (i.e., from eutrophication) and due to rapidly dwindling terrestrial rock phosphate stocks. Effective management of P as a critical resource will require new integrated approaches and techniques to efficiently recover P from wastewater (liquid phase), ideally in a form that can be readily used in agriculture for fertilizer. This chapter will present a comparative review of the performance of adsorbents, adsorption mechanisms, desorption, and P plant availability potential regarding cost-effective adsorbents synthesized within the principles of a more “circular economy.” In addition, considerations regarding scale-up, technique costs, and legislative perspectives will be explored with respect to large-scale P-recovery systems. Finally, to encourage further applied P-recovery based research, several adsorption case studies at pilot-, full-, and large-scale using integrated-hybrid P-removal systems (e.g., membrane/adsorbent reactors, biological nutrient removal with tertiary reactive media adsorption, and algal hybrid processes) will be highlighted, while noting key knowledge gaps and future priorities in this field.