An approach of estimating struvite growth kinetic incorporating thermodynamic and solution chemistry, kinetic and process description

Discharge of untreated nutrient-rich wastewater is a problematic issue, which may cause root burning and the eutrophication of receiving water. It is also a problematic issue due to the formation of crystalline deposits in waste water systems. The recovery of nutrient using crystallization technique may provide a value added product. The recovered product is struvite, which is chemically known as magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrates. The key focus of this paper is the modeling and simulation of struvite growth, incorporating solution chemistry and thermodynamics, growth kinetic and process description of the recovery system. An ensemble of experimental data is combined with the dynamic model to estimate struvite growth kinetics.