Abstract
Advancing nutrient recovery from idea to implementation requires reporting practices that facilitate comparison among diverse nutrient removal and recovery (NRR) technologies and enhance the translation of academic research to practice. We reviewed 157 technologies that treat nitrogen- and/or phosphorus-laden wastewater across several underlying mechanisms, stages of development, and scales of operation. We outline a systematic reporting and analysis framework to characterize NRR technologies using quantitative performance metrics (i.e., removal and recovery efficiency, removal and recovery rate, energy consumption, cost, greenhouse gas emissions, effluent concentration) and qualitative attributes (e technolo readiness level) Com arin eerreviewed literature with practitioner needs reveals limited reporting of energy consumption and cost, indicating misalignment between research and practice. By synthesizing literature and practitioner input on anticipated benefits, barriers to adoption, and knowledge gaps, we identify opportunities for expanding benefits achieved by NRR technologies and aligning research with critical barriers. We propose a research agenda addressing the most reported gaps (e.g., underlying process mechanisms, scale-up) and emphasizing rigorous investigations of systems-level impacts and product-market fit. Results from this study will facilitate interdisciplinary research on NRR technologies, guide technology development by academics and practitioners, and accelerate implementation for resource-efficient nutrient management fit for 21st century challenges.(Figure
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 662-684 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | ACS ES and T Engineering |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 9 2021 |
Funding
2.3. Characterization of Industry Perspectives on NRR. To compare academic and practitioner perspectives, we administered a digital survey through Qualtrics to utilities, consultants, regulators, and nonprofit organizations in the wastewater industry. The objectives of the survey were to (1) identify key information that practitioners seek before implementing novel processes and (2) understand barriers and facilitators of technology adoption. We distributed the survey through ReNUWIt (Reinventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure, an engineering research center funded by the National Science Foundation), California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA), Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA), and the WRF LIFT network. In total, 54 individual responses were collected, predominantly (80%) from public wastewater utilities (Figure S2-3, Section S2.5). All respondents were based in the United States due to our location and primary audience, and perspectives on NRR may differ in markets where reuse and circular economies are more established. With this small sample size and limited geographic scope, we gained general insight into practitioner perspectives but did not make claims assumed to be representative of the industry as a whole. We thank the Water Research Foundation for funding this work (Project 4976) and the Hellman Foundation for supporting authors A.K. and W.A.T. We acknowledge several Stanford students and postdoctoral scholars who contributed to the literature review: Zhihao Cheng, Xiaohan Shao, Ziyan Wu, Masoom Kartik Desai, Emir Aksuyek, Matthew Liu, Brandon Clark, Lorelay Mendoza, Linchao Mu, Hang Dong, Jinyu Guo, and Lingze Wei. We thank Stephanie Fevig (WRF); Kara Baker (ReNUWIt); Thrasivoulos Panayiotou, Dimitrios Katehis, and Theresa Tam (New York City Department of Environmental Protection); BACWA; and CASA for facilitating practitioner engagement. We thank Jack King, Stephanie Lau, Yiran Li, Conrad Pritchard, and Alex Sczcuka for helping with gathering practitioner feedback during focus group sessions. We also thank Jeremy Guest (University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign), Joe Husband (Arcadis), Per Henrik Nielsen (VCS Denmark), and Phil Zahreddine (EPA Office of Wastewater Management) for their feedback.
Keywords
- eutrophication
- nitrogen
- phosphorus
- resource recovery
- technology diffusion
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)
- Environmental Chemistry
- Process Chemistry and Technology
- Chemical Health and Safety
