Recently, RETEMA, a magazine about technical solutions for the environment, has published an article entitled “Study of current management in the Murcia-East wastewater treatment plant to promote phosphorus recovery”. This study evaluates the modifications of the current management in the sludge lines of the Murcia-Este wastewater treatment plant carried out in the framework of the LIFE ENRICH project to increase the amount of recoverable phosphorus from a technical, economic and environmental point of view.
In the LIFE ENRICH project, this solution is under study with the objective of mitigating the problems that could occur in the next decades, caused by the depletion of the mineral reserves of phosphorus (P), which would make the production of phosphorous fertilizers more difficult, and consequently, the access to the world’s food would also be hampered.
This article also focuses on the study of how to obtain streams with a high PO4 content before digestion, so that the amount of recoverable P increases significantly, and the problems related to uncontrolled precipitation are reduced.
The results analyze two apparently similar alternatives, where it is emphasized that a study with a multidisciplinary approach is necessary for decision making. This represents progress to reach a new paradigm within the wastewater treatment and contributes to overcoming the limitations of the current technologies.
