Short communicationRecovery of organic carbon and phosphorus from wastewater by Fe-enhanced primary sedimentation and sludge fermentation

•Chemically enhanced primary sedimentation (CEPS) was combined with sludge fermentation for wastewater treatment.•CEPS significantly improved the organic and phosphate removals from wastewater.•27% of organic carbon was recovered as VFAs from influent sewage via sludge fermentation.•24% of phosphorous from influent sewage was recovered for making P-fertilizer.

A new chemically enhanced primary sedimentation (CEPS) and sludge fermentation process are developed for improved nutrient removal, energy saving and resource recovery in municipal wastewater treatment. The FeCl3-based CEPS with a dosage of 20 mg-Fe/L can remove 75.6% of organic pollutants and 99.3% of PO4-P on average from wastewater. Under natural fermentation conditions, the CEPS sludge undergoes effective hydrolysis and acidogenesis to produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and release phosphate as valuable resources. By using CEPS, around 27% of the organic carbon in wastewater influent can be recovered via sludge fermentation, mainly in the form of VFAs, and about 23% of phosphorus recovered for making vivianite fertilizer. In comparison, both the organic and phosphorus recovery ratios from wastewater are under 10% with conventional primary sedimentation and sludge fermentation. CEPS combined with side-stream sludge fermentation can be readily applied in new treatment plants or in a retrofit of existing treatment systems.

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