Phosphorus Recovery from Wastewater Prominently through a Fe(II)–P Oxidizing Pathway in the Autotrophic Iron-Dependent Denitrification Process

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Abstract
Phosphorus (P) recovery from wastewater can be completed by iron-involved autotrophic denitrification via forming Fe(III)-P precipitates and/or adsorbing P onto Fe(III) oxyhydroxides. However, so far, most studies focused on the final P-containing products, while the P-capturing pathways in such a process remain unclear. In this work, autotrophic iron-dependent denitrification (AIDD) was used as a typical anoxic iron-involved P-capturing biosystem to investigate the main P recovery pathways. The AIDD biosystem showed a relatively stable capability of capturing P coupled with nitrate reduction. Direct formation of amorphous Fe(II)-P precipitates after the phosphate was fed, followed by microbially driven oxidation into Fe(III)-P minerals, was found to be the primary pathway for the P capture. In addition, adsorption of phosphate onto the formed iron oxyhydroxides also contributed to the P recovery. This work provides better understanding about recovering P in AIDD and iron-involved denitrification and highlights the great roles of iron oxidizers in the iron-related biological wastewater treatment processes.
Funding Information
  • China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M642543)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (21590812, 51538011, 51821006, 51908529)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (1908085QB88)
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (GJHZ1845)

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