Phosphorus is a vital resource for sustaining agriculture and nutrition, but a limited non-renewable resource. Thus, the recovery of phosphorus from waste activated sludge(WAS) was attempted by microwave heating and magnesium ammonium phosphorus(MAP) crystallization. Polyphosphate-accumulating organisms(PAOs) in WAS release phosphate from the cell when they are exposed to high temperature environments. Microwave heating caused phosphorus and ammonia to release from WAS. The amount was increased with increasing temperature, showing that 88.5% of polyphosphate present in the cells were released in the form of phosphate at 80oC. A similar result was also observed in the release of ammonia. On the other hand, both phosphorus and ammonia were crystallized with magnesium, and then was harvested as MAP. Phosphorus recovery rate reached almost 97.8%, but the ammonia was about 13.4%. These results cleary indicate that phosphorus could be recovered from WAS using a physiological trait of PAOs. Heavy metal analyses also show that the MAP crystal is useful and safe as a phosphorus fertilizer.

One of the major sources causing eutrophication and algal blooms of lakes or streams is phosphorus which comes from point and nonpoint pollution sources. HAP (hydroxyapatite) crystallization using granular alkaline materials can achieve the decrease of phosphorus load from wastewater treatment plants and nonpoint pollution control facilities. In order to induce HAP crystal formation, continuous supply of calcium and hydroxyl ions is required. In this research, considering HAP crystallization, several types of lime-based granular alkaline materials were prepared, and the elution characteristics of calcium and hydroxyl ions of each were analyzed. Also, column tests were performed to verify phosphorus removal efficiencies of granular alkaline materials. Material_1 (gypsum+cement mixed material) achieved the highest pH values in the column tests consistently, also, Material_2 (gypsum+slag mixed material) and Material_3 (calcined limestone material) achieved over pH 9.0 for 240 hours (10 days) and proved the efficiencies of long-term ion supplier for HAP crystallization. In the column tests using Material_3, considerable pH increase and phosphorus removal were carried out according to each linear velocity and filtration depth. T-P removal efficiencies were 87.0, 84.0, 68.0% and those of PO4-P 100.0, 97.0, 80.0% for linear velocity of 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 m/hr respectively. Based on the column test results, the applicability of phosphorus removal processes for small-scale wastewater treatment plants and nonpoint pollution control facilities was found out.