Removal of ammonia from landfill leachate by struvite precipitation with the use of low-cost phosphate and magnesium sources

This paper presents a study concerning ammonia removal from landfill leachate by struvite precipitation with the use of waste phosphoric acid as the phosphate source. The results indicated that the Al3+ ions present in the waste phosphoric acid significantly affected the struvite precipitation, and a removal ratio of ammonia close to that of pure phosphate salts could be achieved. Nevertheless, large amounts of NaOH were necessary to neutralize the H+ present in the waste phosphoric acid. To overcome this problem, a low-cost magnesium source was proposed to be used as well as an alkali reagent in the struvite precipitation. The ammonia removal ratios were found to be 83%, with a remaining phosphate of 56 mg/L, by dosing the low-cost MgO in the Mg:N:P molar ratio of 3:1:1. An economic analysis showed that using waste phosphoric acid plus the low-cost MgO could save chemical costs by 68% compared with the use of pure chemicals. Post-treatment employment of a biological anaerobic filter process demonstrated that the high concentration of Mg2+ remaining in the effluent of the struvite precipitation has no inhibitory effect on the performance of the biological treatment.