A technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context

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dc.contributor.advisorVon Blottnitz, Harroen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorRandall, Billen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorSikosana, Men_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-15T05:30:38Z
dc.date.available2015-08-15T05:30:38Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractPhosphate is an important, non-substitutable nutrient for all life forms and is essential in ensuring universal food security. In the past, waste water treatment works (WWTW) typically installed effluent polishing technologies to eliminate phosphate and lower concentrations of both nitrogen and phosphate to below regulatory levels. More recently, there has been a global shift towards treating waste water as a "water-carried waste", presenting opportunities for both nutrient and energy recovery. South Africa is yet to embrace this shift, as it battles to provide universal access to basic sanitation needs and is faced with massive infrastructure maintenance and upgrading backlogs in the sanitation sector. Mature phosphate recovery technologies that produce high quality struvite for use in food production do exist. However, there is little evidence to indicate that similar phosphate recovery techniques would be economically viable or socially accepted in South Africa. Therefore, this dissertation sets out to investigate the viability of a simpler and cheaper phosphate recovery technology. The dissertation addresses the hypothesis that the South African market is better suited for low quality struvite for use in secondary (non-food) markets and that this would be cheaper than both traditional chemical precipiation (phosphate elimination) methods and high quality struvite production. This dissertation attempts to answer two key questions derived from this hypothesis by means of two separate methodologies. A qualitative methodology explores socio-technical issues to understand the potential of sewage-recovered struvite in the South African markets. This sets out to explore: What space there is for fertilizer production (such as struvite) from human waste in the South African markets? The second research component uses standard engineering economic methods, to investigate the potential for centralized recovery of nutrients through the conceptual design and a techno-economic pre-feasibility assessment of two phosphate recovery options at the largest WWIW in the Western Cape. These options are contrasted with a more traditional chemical precipitation process.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationSikosana, M. (2015). <i>A technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Chemical Engineering. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13750en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSikosana, M. <i>"A technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Chemical Engineering, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13750en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSikosana, M. 2015. A technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Sikosana, M AB - Phosphate is an important, non-substitutable nutrient for all life forms and is essential in ensuring universal food security. In the past, waste water treatment works (WWTW) typically installed effluent polishing technologies to eliminate phosphate and lower concentrations of both nitrogen and phosphate to below regulatory levels. More recently, there has been a global shift towards treating waste water as a "water-carried waste", presenting opportunities for both nutrient and energy recovery. South Africa is yet to embrace this shift, as it battles to provide universal access to basic sanitation needs and is faced with massive infrastructure maintenance and upgrading backlogs in the sanitation sector. Mature phosphate recovery technologies that produce high quality struvite for use in food production do exist. However, there is little evidence to indicate that similar phosphate recovery techniques would be economically viable or socially accepted in South Africa. Therefore, this dissertation sets out to investigate the viability of a simpler and cheaper phosphate recovery technology. The dissertation addresses the hypothesis that the South African market is better suited for low quality struvite for use in secondary (non-food) markets and that this would be cheaper than both traditional chemical precipiation (phosphate elimination) methods and high quality struvite production. This dissertation attempts to answer two key questions derived from this hypothesis by means of two separate methodologies. A qualitative methodology explores socio-technical issues to understand the potential of sewage-recovered struvite in the South African markets. This sets out to explore: What space there is for fertilizer production (such as struvite) from human waste in the South African markets? The second research component uses standard engineering economic methods, to investigate the potential for centralized recovery of nutrients through the conceptual design and a techno-economic pre-feasibility assessment of two phosphate recovery options at the largest WWIW in the Western Cape. These options are contrasted with a more traditional chemical precipitation process. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - A technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context TI - A technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13750 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/13750
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSikosana M. A technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Chemical Engineering, 2015 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13750en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Chemical Engineeringen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherChemical Engineeringen_ZA
dc.titleA technological, economic and social exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy contexten_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMSc (Eng)en_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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