Novel Material for Removal and Recovery of Phosphorus Marcia Silva, Ph.D., Assistant Scientist/Facility Manager, Water Technology Accelerator, Adjunct Assistant Professor for the School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Contact: Jessica Silvaggi, Ph.D. Senior Licensing Manager 1440 East North Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53202 Tel: 414-906-4654 Jessica@uwmrf.org
PhosProblems: P Contamination Environment Wildlife/plants Recreation • Phosphate is a common water contaminant, especially in farm run-off • Excess nutrients in water ways leads to algal blooms and excessive plant growth (some blooms toxic to humans) • At first plant growth may be stimulated, but over time excessive plant growth can choke the water way, and lead to death of the plants • Low oxygen in waterways can occur and death of aquatic organisms • Effects on economics of food and recreation UWMRF 2018 2 5/16/18
Contamination Sources • Agriculture • Stormwater runoff • Wastewater • In and around the home UWMRF 2018 3 5/16/18
Problems in Phosphate Removal • Phosphorus treatment and removal technologies on the market: • Chemical treatment • Capital costs are lower than biological treatment, greater O&M costs than biological processes • Biological treatment • Zeolites – Difficult to recycle – Do not work in all environments UWMRF 2018 4 5/16/18
Our Modified Zeolite Solution • Goldilocks solution – Stable – Works at wide range of pH – Tolerates high temperature – Recyclable – Flexible deployment – Quick adsorption of P (Inspiration was a furnace filter) -Other deployment methods may also be used UWMRF 2018 5 5/16/18
IP and Opportunity • International Patent Pending: WO2017214530A1 • Looking for a development partner to aid in scale up and deployment for multiple applications • Licensing is available Market • Our IP has potential in numerous markets including phosphate removal for wastewater/drinking water and the recovery and reuse/re-sale of phosphorus • About 90% of the world’s mined phosphorus ends as the crucial ingredient in fertilizers • The global phosphate market was valued at $67.3B in 2015 and is projected to reach $75.2B by 2021 • The global phosphate fertilizer market size was estimated at $51.6B in 2016 UWMRF 2018 6 5/16/18
How the technology works The Material: • Zeolite functionalized with metal oxides such as lanthanum and magnesium to adsorb and remove P UWMRF 2018 7 5/16/18
Our Modified Zeolite Solution • Quick adsorption of P Effect of contact time on removal efficiency percentage 100 80 % Removal Efficiency 60 40 20 0 1 5 10 15 20 25 30 60 Contact Time (min) UWMRF 2018 8 5/16/18
Phosphorus Removal Efficiency Removal Efficiency Percentage 100 95 % Removal Efficiency 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 WaTA filter WaTA filter- WaTA Benchmark Phoslock Chinese No Chinese Microwave Sigma Benchmark cheaper filter-best intermediate Microwave 10X material material fabrication fabrication Filters step materials materials Comparison to other materials and our fabrication materials used UWMRF 2018 9 5/16/18
Regeneration Efficiency ✓ Plain zeolite – removes 10 % P ✓ Our modified zeolite - – removes up to 98% P – We can recycle modified zeolite 10 times and continue to remove P UWMRF 2018 10 5/16/18
Next Steps Current funding: ✓ Great Lakes Protection Fund - $1.1 M ($450 K to UWM) ✓ Deployment of the system in farms in WI, MI and OH ✓ Monitoring of the system and performance by Dec 2019 Looking For: • Partner to scale up,develop, and deploy in multiple markets UWMRF 2018 11 5/16/18
Novel Material for Removal and Recovery of Phosphorus Contact: Jessica Silvaggi, Ph.D. Senior Licensing Manager 1440 East North Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53202 Tel: 414-906-4654 Jessica@uwmrf.org
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