Elimination of phosphorus from municipal and industrial waste water

Application of the precipitation process using Fe and Al salts or lime, which is the main process used in Germany for phosphorus removal may lead to problems, such as an increase of the anion concentration of the water and recovering the phosphorus from the precipitation sludge. Therefore two processes for phosphorus removal from waste waters were developed which avoid these disadvantages: 1. A process especially suitable for low phosphorus concentrations (less than or equal to 1 mg/L P) employing Activated Alumina for the removal of the phosphate by adsorption. 2. Phosphorus removal by means of direct precipitation of calcium phosphate induced by calcite as seeding material for the treatment of higher concentrated waters (greater than or equal to 20 mg/L P). (C) 1999 IAWQ Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.