Model Development for Phosphate Recovery from Acidic Wastewater

This paper presents an original model for calcium phosphate crystallization from acidic wastewater. The model is developed using classical principles of chemistry and population balance modeling. The aim is to further use the model for analysis, control and optimization of the crystallization process for phosphate recovery. The proposed model consists of one population balance equation coupled with four mass balance equations and a set of algebraic equations, which can be easily integrated with Matlab and MatMOL toolbox. The model is validated against PHREEQC, a software for speciation and geochemical calculations.