Effects of organic and inorganic acids on phosphorus release from municipal sludge

Abstract

This paper reports on the effects of inorganic acids (sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid) and organic acids (citric acid, oxalic acids) for phosphorus recovery from sludge and struvite precipitation results. It was observed that both inorganic acid and organic acids were effective at phosphorus release. The studies on precipitation of released phosphorus from sludge as magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite) were also done using nitric and oxalic acids. Phosphorus and heavy metals of leachate were analyzed before and after precipitation. It was observed that heavy metal concentrations in the extracted samples decrease after precipitation. Precipitation was accomplished by using extract derived with nitric acid; however, in oxalic acid applications, it was not achieved. When the chemical constituents of the dried material were examined oxygen, sodium and nitrogen were found to be the major elements.