RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 A novel approach for nutrients recovery from municipal waste as biofertilizers by combining electrodialytic and gas permeable membrane technologies
A1 Oliveira, Veronica
A1 Dias-Ferreira, Celia
A1 González-García, Isabel
A1 Labrincha, João
A1 Horta, Carmo
A1 García-González, María Cruz
AB The recovery of valuable materials from waste fits the principle of circular economy and sustainable use of resources, but contaminants in the waste are still a major obstacle. This works proposes a novel approach to recover high-purity phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) from digestate of municipal solid waste based on the combination of two independent membrane processes: electrodialytic (ED) process to extract P, and gas permeable membranes (GPM) for N extraction. A laboratory ED cell was adapted to accommodate a GPM. The length of waste compartment (10 cm; 15 cm), current intensity (50 mA; 75 mA) and operation time (9 days; 12 days) were the variables tested. 81% of P in the waste was successfully extracted to the anolyte when an electric current of 75 mA was applied for 9 days, and 74% of NH4+ was extracted into an acid-trapping solution. The two purified nutrient solutions were subsequently used in the synthesis of a biofertilizer (secondary struvite) through precipitation, achieving an efficiency of 99.5%. The properties of the secondary struvite synthesized using N and P recovered from the waste were similar to secondary struvite formed using synthetic chemicals but the costs were higher due to the need to neutralize the acid-trapping solution, highlighting the need to further tune the process and make it economically more competitive. The high recycling rates of P and N achieved are encouraging and widen the possibility of replacing synthetic fertilizers, manufactured from finite sources, by secondary biofertilizers produced using nutrients extracted from wastes.
SN 0956-053X
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/74280
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/74280
LA spa
NO Waste Management, abril 2021, vol. 125, p. 293-302
DS UVaDOC
RD 29-ene-2025