• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.343-348
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• 2016

A chemical sequencing batch reactor was operated to test the feasibility of nutrient recovery from a biological livestock wastewater treatment plant. Both phosphate and ammonia could be successfully recovered as magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) crystals. The contents of TP and TN in the recovered MAP crystals were 26.2% and 4.0%, respectively. Zn, Cr and Ti were identified in the crystals, but the contents remained below the Korean standard for an organic fertilizer. Chemical analyses confirmed that the MAP crystals could be useful phosphate fertilizers. On the other hand, the results of physical analyses using an X-ray diffractometer and an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer strongly suggested that crystalline materials like magnesium potassium phosphate (KMP) and hydroxyapatite (HAP) were also formed during the MAP crystallization, depending on the availability of K⁺ and Ca²⁺.