Suffolk, Va.-Hampton Roads Sanitation District’s Nansemond wastewater treatment plant located here has successfully completed pilot-testing of an innovative technology that produces what is considered an environmentally safe, commercial fertilizer from the recycle stream. Nansemond Plant Manager Bill Balzer told Green Markets, “The fertilizer is a slow release product with an NPK of 5-28-0, plus 10 percent magnesium.” Balzer said that the process uses chemical reactions to remove nutrients from wastewaters being recycled back to the treatment plant. Struvite crystals are formed when the ammonia and phosphorus from the recycle stream come into contact with magnesium chloraide used as a seed material to generate small pellets of magnesium ammonium phosphate. “The pilot test demonstrated that approximately 85 percent of the phosphorous and 40 percent of the ammonia in the recycle stream can be removed by the process,” Balzer said. The developer, Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, B.C., claims that efficiency is improved and costs reduced, along with savings in maintenance requirements. A proposal is currently being reviewed to install and operate a full-scale facility. Ostara President and CEO Phillip Abrary said many treatment plants such as Nansemond are effective at biologically removing phosphorus and nitrogen with anaerobic digestion, but are left with handling a significant amount of nutrients in the recycle stream. He said the first commercial plant using this technology will begin operating shortly in Edmonton, Alberta, and another pilot program is scheduled in Portland, Ore. Ostara has identified as many as 400 municipalities in North America and 50 in Europe that could improve operations with this process.
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