REVISTA DYNA ENERGÍA

Key words:

incineración, biosólido, proceso sephos, lixiviación, : incineration, biosolid, sephos process, lixiviación

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

RESEARCH ARTICLES

ABSTRACT: Phosphorus (P) is a non-renewable and essential element for all living organisms. This is the main constituent of fertilizers used in agriculture. The main source of phosphorus and the raw material for fertilizer industry is phosphate rock, which, according to some sources there will be only available reserves for the next 100 years.
Due to the decrease in quantity and quality, and the increasing in phosphate rock price it is necessary to find new sources and develop sustainable methods for recycling and recovery this vital element. Large proportion of phosphorus present in food ends up in biosolids produced in wastewater treatment plants, therefore, it becomes in promising sources for recycling and recovery phosphorus.
Biosolid incineration followed by phosphorus recovery is a relatively new option to treat this waste. The current work describes the phosphorus recovery by acid leaching of biosolid ashes obtained by incineration process at different temperatures (400, 520, 640 and 780 ° C). The recovery process used is called Sephos process. The results showed that at pH 1.5 is possible to achieve a good dissolution of phosphorus in these ashes and, at pH 4 and, using the aluminum contained in the biosolid it is possible to recover phosphorus as aluminum phosphate. The higher percentage of phosphate recovery was achieved at 640 °C.