Urea hydrolysis and recovery of nitrogen and phosphorous as MAP from stale human urine

Laboratory-scale tests for magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) precipitation following urea hydrolysis of human urine were conducted using orthogonal experiment design. The effects of initial pH, temperature and the volumetric ratios of stale urine to fresh urine, on urea hydrolysis in urine were studied to determine the final hydrolysis time to recover most nitrogen from separated human urine by MAP. With a volumetric ratio of stale to fresh urine >10% and at temperature ≥ 20°C, urea hydrolysis could be completed in two days. Alkaline pH inhibited urea hydrolysis progress. The final pH values were all around 9.0 following urine hydrolysis, while the suspension pH might act as an indicator to detect the start and extent of urea hydrolysis. Over 95% of ammonium nitrogen and over 85% of phosphorus from hydrolyzed urine as MAP precipitate were obtained using MgCl₂·6H₂OandNa₂HPO₄·12H₂O as precipitation agents at pH 8.5, molar ratio of Mg²⁺:NH₄⁺-N:PO₄^3--P at (1.2-1.3):1:1, mixing speed of 120 r/min, and precipitation time and reaction time of 3 h and 15 min, respectively. The precipitate has a structure resembling pure MAP crystal. © 2008 The Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.