Abstract
The crystallization of struvite-K (MgKPO·6HO) can simultaneously recover phosphate and potassium from source-separated urine. However, its crystal size has been rarely reported despite significantly affecting the crystallizer performance. Experimental results show that the average size of struvite-K was 15-63 μm in ammonium-depleted synthetic urine under the examined conditions with a stirred reactor. A low supersaturation ratio (S) or the same S induced by low pH and high Mg:P ratio resulted in large crystal size. Large crystals also formed at high agitation speed, small feed volume, or feeding close to the stirring impeller. The size distribution of struvite-K crystals was predicted using the coupling resolution of the population balance equation to on-site turbidity measurement. The estimated kinetic parameters quantitatively described the nucleation and crystal growth of struvite-K under different conditions of supersaturation, feeding, and mixing. This work proposes approaches to obtain large crystals while reducing fines of struvite-K.
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