Crystallisation process enables environmental friendly phosphate removal at low costs

An advanced alternative for phosphate removal by conventional precipitation is to apply crystallisation. DHV, a multinational group of consulting engineers and general contractors with headquarters in The Netherlands, has developed and patented a fluid-bed type of crystalliser in which phosphate is removed and recovered from the wastewater while phosphate pellets with a typical diameter of 1 mm are produced. The major advantages of the crystallisation technology, the so-called Crystalactor(infinity 1), are that (1) the installation is compact, (2) phosphate pellets with a high-purity are produced, (3) the produced pellets have an extremely low water content (5% to 10% moisture) and (4) the pellets can be reused. Up to now Crystalactor(R) plants were constructed for the removal/recovery of heavy metals, phosphate, fluoride and the softening of drinking and process water.