Canadian PI: Dr. Qiuyan Yuan
Canadian Institution: University of Manitoba
Indian PI: Dr. Prangya Ranjan Rout
Indian Institution: Thapar Institute of Engineering Technology
Project Summary:
Phosphorus, a critical plant nutrient is produced through mining of phosphate rocks, which is a non-renewable natural resource. It is predicted that after a couple of decades, the phosphorous supply will be increasingly scarce, which will jeopardize global food security. On the other hand, municipality wastewater is an important source of phosphorous and about 3 metric ton of phosphorus are lost per year via municipality wastewater. Approximate 15-20% of the total global phosphorus demand could be satisfied by recovering phosphorous from municipality sewage. Therefore, development of a single unit bio-reactor employing novel denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms (DPAOs) has been projected in this proposal to fulfil the purpose of simultaneous nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorous) removal and phosphorous recovery from municipal wastewater. DPAOs mediated phosphorous enrichment of the liquid phase is proposed here, which can subsequently be recovered as crystals through induced crystallization. Furthermore, by-product/waste-based carbon sources for phosphorous removal is deemed in this proposal for economic sustainability. This project foresees promising prospects of remitting the possible crisis of phosphorus in the near future and the goal is to reach technology readiness level 5 (TRL5) and to enhance commercial and entrepreneurial endeavors in phosphorous recovery domain.
