Nutrient recovery is a growing component of clean-water plant operations. Most often the target is phosphorus.
The various motivations to isolate phosphorus include combating struvite accumulation in piping and process equipment, meeting stringent effluent phosphorus permit limits, generating revenue from sale of a marketable fertilizer and simply making operations more sustainable.
CalPrex technology, which Centrisys/CNP has licensed from Nutrient Recovery & Upcycling (or NRU), is the newest arrival among phosphorus recovery processes. The technology captures phosphorus in the form of brushite (dicalcium phosphate dehydrate), which is then dried and pelletized.
The company says the process can recover 45% or more of
