Nutrient Recovery from Digestate: Systematic Technology Review and Product Classification

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.