Nutrient Recovery from Urine through Membrane Techniques

A paradigm shift is currently underway from an attitude that considers urine as a waste to be treated, to a proactive interest in recovering materials and energy from these streams. This paper is concerned with the development and application of a systematic, model-based methodology for the development of membrane based nutrient recovery systems that are both economically attractive and sustainable. With the array of available treatment and recovery options growing steadily development of reliable, yet simple, performance based is a key issue with this approach in order to allow for a reliable solution based on global optimization. We argue that commercial urine simulators can be used to derive such models, and we illustrate this approach with a simple recovery system. A conceptual decision making algorithm is developed aiming at the configuration and optimization of nutrient recovery treatment trains. This, in turn, may stimulate and hasten the global transition from urine wastage to urine resource recovery facilities. On top of that, the proposed roadmap may help adjusting the choice of nutrient recovery strategies to local fertilizer markets, thereby speeding up the transition from a fossil-reserve based to a bio-based circular nutrient economy. Citation: Gautam. "Nutrient Recovery from Urine through Membrane Techniques." Global Research and Development Journal For Engineering [RUCTD2018], ISTE Gujarat Section and Madhya Pradesh Section Sardar Patel University, Gujarat, (November 2018) : pp. 88 - 94.