Wastewater biorefineries: Exploring biological phosphorus removal and integrated recovery solutions

Samarpita Roy, Jette F. Petersen, Sarah Müller, Zivile Kondrotaite, Mark van Loosdrecht, Thomas Wintgens, Per H. Nielsen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The emphasis on phosphorus removal and recovery from wastewater treatment plants has intensified in recent years due to the urgent need to reduce dependency on nonrenewable phosphorus reserves. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR), driven by a diverse community of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms with distinct metabolic capabilities, offers several advantages over chemical precipitation methods. These benefits include reduced chemical use, lower sludge volumes, decreased reliance on costly chemical precipitants, and improved phosphorus recovery quality. Recent advancements in recovery technologies now enable efficient phosphorus extraction from digester supernatant, dewatered digested sewage sludge, and sewage sludge ash, each yielding different recovery efficiencies. Despite these advances, a comprehensive assessment of the phosphorus recovery potential from these target streams in conjunction with EBPR remains crucial and has yet to be fully explored.
Original languageEnglish
Article number103266
Number of pages8
JournalCurrent Opinion in Biotechnology
Volume92
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

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