Evaluation of local and national effects of recovering phosphorus at wastewater treatment plants: Lessons learned from the UK

• 9% total P and 21% PO4-P is recovered from WWTP influent into struvite product.
• Struvite recovery reduced centrate recycle stream by 57% total P and 45% PO4-P.
• Reducing chemical dosing equates to 58% of total savings achieved by P recovery.
• Recovering P from WWTP influent and ISSA reduces UK fertiliser imports by 36%.
• P recovery from WWTP influent and ISSA reduces P contained in water bodies by 22%.

P recovery from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as struvite fertiliser is a recognised method of improving P use efficiency and reducing P losses into the environment. The main driver for P recovery from the water industry viewpoint is the reduction in the nuisance of struvite clogging inside pumps and pipes. Struvite recovery leads to an average P recovery rate of 72 ± 7% from centrifuge centrate, with 8.8 ± 0.7% total P and 20.5 ± 3.2% PO4-P removed from the WWTP influent as struvite. This reduces the potential for struvite precipitation, moderates P loads on biological nutrient removal processes and lowers P concentration in the final effluent. Totalling revenue from sale of struvite and operational site savings, P recovery becomes an attractive option for water companies. The implementation of P recovery technologies to produce struvite fertiliser in all UK WWTPs could produce a national P fertiliser source of 7.05 ± 2.01 kt P/year. In addition, sludge produced at WWTPs could be diverted to advanced energy recovery (AER) processes and P recovered from AER residues; up to 21.71 ± 0.95 kt P/year could be recovered in this way in the UK. Combining the two methods of P recovery, UK imports of P fertiliser could be reduced by 36.2 ± 1.1%. P recovery on a large scale has the further benefit of protecting against eutrophication by reducing P emissions to water bodies by 21.7 ± 1.9%. The protection of the environment and reduction in reliance on imported P are major national motivations to legislate P recovery from waste.