Abstract
This study demonstrates that a wastewaterdriven microbial electrochemical process greatly facilitates traditional rate-limiting urea hydrolysis and efficiently recovers ammonium and phosphate nutrients from source-separated urine. Using both synthetic and diluted actual urine and wastewater, 76-87% of nitrogen and 72-93% of phosphorus were continuously removed from source-separated urine and collected in recovery solutions. The acceleration of hydrolysis and nutrient recovery were driven by the electrical potential generated during wastewater treatment. The efficient nutrient recovery is attributed to the increase in the rate of hydrolysis induced by continuous ammonium migration and removal, which alleviates storage, health, and operational issues associated with the utilization of urine. Further investigations of removal behaviors of micropollutants under electrochemical conditions will be performed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 305-310 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Environmental Science and Technology Letters |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Environmental Chemistry
- Ecology
- Water Science and Technology
- Waste Management and Disposal
- Pollution
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis