CONCLUSION

This paper studied struvite precipitation from septage sludge as a form of

phosphorus recovery. The septage sludge sample was subjected to alkaline
hydrolysis to increase the phosphorus recovered in the form of struvite. The total
amount of phosphorus contained in the sample as phosphate increased from 17.05%
to 46.88%. Struvite precipitation was conducted after alkaline hydrolysis, and the
phosphorus recovery percentages ranged from 39.39% to 53.12%. Thus precipitation
of struvite makes a feasible strategy for lowering wastewater's phosphate
concentration. The results of the ANOVA analysis revealed that only the interactive
effects of the Mg:P ratio and residence time had a significant impact on phosphorus
recovery. Amorphous precipitates were assumed to have formed based on the
sample's XRD diffractogram, which was supported by minor peaks. After alkaline
hydrolysis, it was found from the Mg2+ and Ca2+ analyses that phosphorus recovery
thru calcium phosphate was less likely. It is most likely that phosphorus was
recovered as aluminum phosphates based on the d-spacing of the minor peak with a
value of 4.13 obtained from the XRD study. Future works will include metal ion
removal process as pre-treatment to the hydrolysed sample to eliminate or minimize
the formation of other phosphate salts.