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Dr Oliver Crossley

Postgraduate Research Student

Academic and research departments

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering.

My research project

My publications

Publications

Oliver Crossley, Rex Thorpe, Dominik Peus, Judy Lee (2020)Phosphorus recovery from process waste water made by the hydrothermal carbonisation of spent coffee grounds, In: Bioresource Technology301122664 Elsevier
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122664

This study investigates the recovery of phosphorus from the process water obtained through hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) of a ‘wet’ biomass waste, namely spent coffee grounds. HTC was shown to liberate more than 82% of the total phosphorus in the grounds in the form of dissolved ortho-phosphate. Nanofiltration was used to concentrate the inorganic nutrients of the HTC process water, achieving a mass concentration factor of 3.9 times. The natural stoichiometry of phosphorus, magnesium and ammoniacal nitrogen in the nanofiltration retentate was favourable for struvite precipitation. 92.8% of aqueous phosphorus was recovered as struvite through simple pH adjustment, yielding a total phosphorus recovery of 75% from the feedstock spent coffee grounds.