Researchers Publish New Wastewater Design Guidelines For Removing Phosphorus

Researchers have developed new wastewater system design guidelines they claim can cut down costs for treatment plants and help protect aquatic life.

A study by University of British Columbia researchers, published last month in the journal Computers & Fluids, developed guidelines to prevent phosphorus deposits from forming in wastewater systems.

The guidelines “tailor the design of specialized filters, called fluidized bed reactors, to local conditions,” according to a statement from the university. “The guidelines also help ensure the fluidized bed reactors avoid the release of phosphorus into the environment. As phosphorus promotes oxygen-depleting algae blooms, its release can suffocate aquatic life.”

The researchers used a virtual environment to test different wastewater flow scenarios, according to the statement. They estimated which operating conditions for the fluidized bed reactors optimized the mixing of liquid and solid materials in a way that removed phosphorus. The study put it like this: “The correlations and computed results achieve excellent agreement with published literature.”

“The guidelines allow designers to account for differing wastewater rates and quality found in different geographic regions, as the chemical makeup and amount of wastewater varies with geography and city size,” the university statement said.

Lead researcher Joshua Brinkerhoff, assistant professor of engineering, explained in a statement: “If left unchecked, phosphorus can cause significant environmental damage and millions of dollars in additional maintenance costs for large wastewater plant operators, such as municipalities. These are consequences we obviously want to avoid and the design guidelines developed in this research can help us to do that.”

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