Study on the Effect of Potassium on Struvite Precipitation in Synthetic Landfill Leachate
Struvite precipitation (MAP, MgNH4PO4 .6H2 O) is a common method for the treatment of ammoniumnitrogen (NH4 -N) in wastewater. Landfill leachate, one of the most hazardous waste streams, contains different pollutants (e.g. potassium (K)) that could affect the process of MAP recovery. This study investigated the effect of K on NH4-N recovery by struvite precipitation from landfill leachate. Bench-scale experiments were carried out using synthetic landfill leachate, by varying N:K molar ratio from 0.0 to 1.0, in which the results illustrated that increasing the molar ratio of K:N from 0.0 to 1.0 lowered the recovery of NH4 -N from 88% to 77%. Additionally, the precipitation of K compounds was confirmed by Scanning Electron Microscope/Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX). Finally, this study concluded that only high concentrations of K could affect the purity of struvite recovered from landfill leachate.
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