Formation of Struvite Crystals in a Simulated Food Waste Aerobic Composting Process

Bench-scale treatments with three mixtures of Mg and P salts, including K3PO4＋MgSO4, K2HPO4＋MgSO4, and KH2PO4＋MgSO4 as additives in a simulated food waste aerobic composting process, were conducted to test the magnesium ammonium phosphate（MAP） formation, and the compost products were analyzed by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, Scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy（EDS） analyses. The comparison results between XRD, SEM, and EDS analyses of MAPs in the dried compost and synthesized MAPs confirm the formation of MAP crystals in the simulated food waste aerobic composting process. The analysis of the compost also indicates that the addition of all the three mixtures of Mg and P salts in the aerobic composting process can increase nitrogen conservation and decrease nitrogen loss because of the formation of MAPs. The mechanism of MAP formation was verified as the reaction of ammonium（NH4＋） with magnesium（Mg^2＋） and phosphate[HnPO4^（3-n） , n=0, 1, and 2）.

Modeling assessment for ammonium nitrogen recovery from wastewater by chemical precipitation

Chemical precipitation to form magnesium ammonium phosphate（MAP） is an effective technology for recovering ammonium nitrogen（NH4＋-N）.In the present research,we investigated the thermodynamic modeling of the PHREEQC program for NH4＋-N recovery to evaluate the effect of reaction factors on MAP precipitation.The case study of NH4＋-N recovery from coking wastewater was conducted to provide a comparison.Response surface methodology（RSM） was applied to assist in understanding the relative significance of reaction factors and the interactive effects of solution conditions.Thermodynamic modeling indicated that the saturation index（SI） of MAP followed a polynomial function of pH.The SI of MAP increased logarithmically with the Mg2＋/NH4＋ molar ratio（Mg/N） and the initial NH4＋-N concentration（CN）,respectively,while it decreased with an increase in Ca2＋/NH4＋ and CO32？/NH4＋ molar ratios（Ca/N and CO32？/N）,respectively.The trends for NH4＋-N removal at different pH and Mg/N levels were similar to the thermodynamic modeling predictions.The RSM analysis indicated that the factors including pH,Mg/N,CN,Ca/N,（Mg/N）×（CO32？/N）,（pH）2,（Mg/N）2,and（CN）2 were significant.Response surface plots were useful for understanding the interaction effects on NH4＋-N recovery.

Optimization of process parameters for mature landfill leachate pretreatment using MAP precipitation

Chemical precipitation is a useful technology as a pretreatment to treat mature landfill leachate with high concentrations of ammonium-nitrogen （NH＋-N） and refractory organic compounds. Orthogonal experiments and factorial experiments were carried out to determine the optimal conditions enhancing the magnesium ammonium phosphate （MAP） precipitation process, and the experi- mental results demonstrated that the removal rate of NH＋ -N was more than 85% when MgO and NaHEPO4.2H20 were applied as external sources of magnesium and phosphorous under the optimal conditions that molar ratio n（Mg）：n（N）：n（P） = 1.4：1：0.8, reaction time 60 min, original pH of leachate and settling time 30 min. In the precipitation process, pH could be maintained at the optimal range of 8-9.5 because MgO could release hydroxide ions to consume hydrogen ions. Calcium ions and carbonate ions existed in the leachate could affect the precipitation process, which resulted in the decrease of NH＋-N removal efficiency. The residues of MAP sediments decomposed by heating under alkaline condi- tions can be reused as the sources of phosphorous and magnesium for the removal of high concentrations of NH4＋ -N, and up to 90% of ammonium could be released under molar ratio of n[OH]：n[MAP] = 2.5： 1, heating temperature 90℃ and heating time 2h.