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Nutrient Recovery from Digestate: Systematic Technology Review and Product Classification

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Abstract

Nutrient recovery from digested biodegradable waste as marketable products has become an important task for anaerobic digestion plants to meet both regulatory drivers and market demands, while producing an internal revenue source. As such, the present waste problem could be turned into an economic opportunity. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive overview and critical comparison of the available/emerging technologies for nutrient recovery from digestate, and a classification of the resulting end-products according to their fertilizer characteristics. Based on the stage of implementation, the technical performance, as well as financial aspects, struvite precipitation/crystallization, ammonia stripping and (subsequent) absorption using an acidic air scrubber were selected as best available technologies to be applied at full-scale for nutrient recovery as marketable fertilizer commodities. The resulting end-products can and should be classified as renewable nitrogen–phosphorus (N/P) precipitates and nitrogen–sulfur (N/S) solutions, respectively, in fertilizer and environmental legislations. This would stimulate their use and foster nutrient recovery technology implementation.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by the European Commission under the Interreg IVb Project Arbor and by the Environmental & Energy Technology Innovation Platform (MIP) under the project Nutricycle. The first author is also funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Fonds de Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FRQNT) and Primodal Inc. through a BMP Industrial Innovation Scholarship (BMP doctorat 178263). Peter Vanrolleghem holds the Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Modelling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BioEngine, Research Team on Green Process Engineering and Biorefineries, Chemical Engineering Department, Université Laval, 1065, avenue de la Médecine, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Céline Vaneeckhaute

  2. Flemish Coordination Center for Manure Processing (VCM vzw), Abdijbekestraat 9, 8200, Brugge, Belgium

    Viooltje Lebuf

  3. Ecochem, Laboratory of Analytical and Applied Ecochemistry, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Evi Michels, Filip M. G. Tack & Erik Meers

  4. Primodal Inc., 145 Rue Aberdeen, Quebec, QC, G1R 2C9, Canada

    Evangelina Belia

  5. modelEAU, Département de génie civil et de génie des eaux, Université Laval, 1065, avenue de la Médecine, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Peter A. Vanrolleghem

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  1. Céline Vaneeckhaute
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Correspondence to Céline Vaneeckhaute.

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Vaneeckhaute, C., Lebuf, V., Michels, E. et al. Nutrient Recovery from Digestate: Systematic Technology Review and Product Classification. Waste Biomass Valor 8, 21–40 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-016-9642-x

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