Phosphorus mining from phosphate rock is associated with economic as well as environmental concerns. Through phosphorus recovery from municipal wastewater, countries could decrease their dependency on the global phosphate rock market, however, conceivably leading to an increase in environmental impacts from fertilizer production. In this work 18 phosphorus recovery technologies are evaluated in terms of cumulative energy demand, global warming potential and acidification potential with the methodology of life cycle analysis. These indicators are then contrasted with other environmental criteria, i.e. recovery potential, heavy metal and organic micropollutant decontamination potential and fertilizer efficiency, to determine their overall environmental performance. The LCA shows that a broad spectrum of changes in gaseous emissions and energy demand can be expected through the implementation of P recovery from wastewater. Linkage to further environmental performance results exposes certain trade-offs for the different technologies. Recovery from the liquid phase has mostly positive or comparably little impacts on emissions and energy demand but the low recovery potential contradicts the demand for efficient recycling rates. For recovery from sewage sludge, those technologies that already are or are close to being applied full-scale, are associated with comparatively high emissions and energy demand. Recovery from sewage sludge ash shows varying results, partly revealing trade-offs between heavy metal decontamination, emissions and energy demand. Nevertheless, recovery from ash is correlated with the highest potential for an efficient recycling of phosphorus. Further research should include implications of local infrastructures and legal frameworks to determine economically and environmentally optimised P recovery and recycling concepts.
en
dc.description.sponsorship
The Austrian Science Funds (FWF)
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dc.language
English
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dc.language.iso
en
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dc.publisher
ELSEVIER
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dc.relation.ispartof
Resources, Conservation & Recycling
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dc.rights.uri
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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dc.subject
Phosphorus recovery
en
dc.subject
Wastewater
en
dc.subject
Life cycle assessment
en
dc.subject
Environmental impacts
en
dc.subject
Material flow analysis
en
dc.subject
Energy analysis
en
dc.title
Environmental impacts of phosphorus recovery from municipal wastewater
en
dc.type
Article
en
dc.type
Artikel
de
dc.rights.license
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
en
dc.rights.license
Creative Commons Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International
de
dc.description.startpage
127
-
dc.description.endpage
139
-
dc.relation.grantno
DK-plus W1219-N22
-
dc.rights.holder
The Author(s) 2017
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dc.type.category
Original Research Article
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tuw.container.volume
130
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tuw.journal.peerreviewed
true
-
tuw.peerreviewed
true
-
tuw.version
vor
-
dcterms.isPartOf.title
Resources, Conservation & Recycling
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tuw.publication.orgunit
E226-01 - Forschungsbereich Wassergütewirtschaft
-
tuw.publisher.doi
10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.11.002
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dc.identifier.eissn
1879-0658
-
dc.identifier.libraryid
AC15343965
-
dc.description.numberOfPages
13
-
dc.identifier.urn
urn:nbn:at:at-ubtuw:3-5489
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tuw.author.orcid
0000-0002-9901-8408
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tuw.author.orcid
0000-0002-2128-5434
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tuw.author.orcid
0000-0002-7757-4163
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tuw.author.orcid
0000-0002-7723-0635
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tuw.author.orcid
0000-0003-1231-4253
-
dc.rights.identifier
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
en
dc.rights.identifier
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
de
item.openaccessfulltext
Open Access
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item.openairetype
research article
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item.openairecristype
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_2df8fbb1
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item.fulltext
with Fulltext
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item.cerifentitytype
Publications
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item.languageiso639-1
en
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item.grantfulltext
open
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crisitem.author.dept
E226-01 - Forschungsbereich Wassergütewirtschaft
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crisitem.author.dept
E226-01 - Forschungsbereich Wassergütewirtschaft
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crisitem.author.dept
E226-01 - Forschungsbereich Wassergütewirtschaft
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crisitem.author.dept
E226 - Institut für Wassergüte und Ressourcenmanagement
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crisitem.author.dept
E226-01 - Forschungsbereich Wassergütewirtschaft
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crisitem.author.dept
E226 - Institut für Wassergüte und Ressourcenmanagement
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crisitem.author.orcid
0000-0002-9901-8408
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crisitem.author.orcid
0000-0002-2128-5434
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crisitem.author.orcid
0000-0002-7757-4163
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crisitem.author.orcid
0000-0002-7723-0635
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crisitem.author.orcid
0000-0003-1231-4253
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crisitem.author.parentorg
E226 - Institut für Wassergüte und Ressourcenmanagement
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crisitem.author.parentorg
E226 - Institut für Wassergüte und Ressourcenmanagement
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crisitem.author.parentorg
E226 - Institut für Wassergüte und Ressourcenmanagement
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crisitem.author.parentorg
E200 - Fakultät für Bau- und Umweltingenieurwesen
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crisitem.author.parentorg
E226 - Institut für Wassergüte und Ressourcenmanagement