Samenvatting

The limited natural phosphorus reserves in the world are gradually depleting. This makes it interesting to look for other ways of recovering phosphorus. One of the possibility’s is the recovery of phosphate (PO4) from industrial and municipal waste water, by the precipitation of struvite. By dosing magnesium to waste water, Ammonium (NH4+), Phosphate (PO43-) and Magnesium (Mg2+) might form a crystal together called struvite (MgNH4PO4(s)). Struvite has a low solubility, which makes it interesting to use as a slow-release fertilizer. With struvite, crops would be longer enriched with nutrients, which means less fertilizer is needed in the long run. This thesis investigates what level struvite- and other P-recovering technologies can possibly contribute to the demand for phosphorus in the EU.