Reacting low solubility magnesium mineral sources of high natural abundance with N and P from anthropogenic wastewater offers new, yet little explored, opportunities for struvite production. Specifically, magnesite (MgCO3), periclase (MgO), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) can potentially be used for this nutrient recovery. Magnesium and calcium are secondary plant nutrients. The work presented studied the fundamental aspects of a diverse set of low solubility, magnesium mineral surface conversions into struvite in the presence of the simulated municipal wastewater. Specifically, we investigated the effects of the magnesium mineral nature (oxide, carbonate), composition (Mg, Mg and Ca), and ion transport (diffusion limited macrocrystal vs interface reaction limited nanoparticle) on their propensity to form struvite in simulated wastewater under varying N:P concentrations, dissolved organic matter and pH. We utilized a combination of ion chromatography measurements with in situ Raman spectroscopy to unravel growth kinetics, spatial inhomogeneity of struvite crystals and their chemical complexity.

In situ measurements of struvite crystal growth and their surface chemistry on insoluble magnesium minerals

256th National Meeting (2018)

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