Since May of this year, an innovative wastewater treatment technology prototype has been successfully tested under real-life conditions at a municipal wastewater treatment facility operated by SIA "Ādažu ūdens" During the purification process, a team of scientists from the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU) succeeded in reducing the phosphorus content in wastewater to meet regulatory discharge limits and prepared the recovered phosphorus for further testing as a component in soil amendments.
Testing this prototype in real-life conditions marks a significant step in scaling the new technology. It enables not only the treatment of substantially larger volumes of water than before but also ensures continuous 24-hour operation of the filter, compared to the 6-hour cycles used in laboratory tests in 2024.
"Scaling up a new technology is a key step toward commercialisation and market implementation. It provides essential insights into the technology’s potential performance at larger scales and its possible advantages over existing methods," says project scientific manager Rūta Ozola-Davidāne, Associate Professor (tenured) and Lead Researcher at the LBTU Institute of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Engineering.
Photo: R. Ozola-Davidāne.
Phosphorus pollution in water resources is one of the main contributors to eutrophication and presents significant ecological risks, including degraded water quality and the overgrowth in water bodies with aquatic plants and algae.
"To reduce these risks and protect water resources, innovative solutions are needed to lower phosphorus pollution. Efficient phosphorus capture from wastewater not only improves environmental quality but also promotes resource reuse - for instance, by using the phosphorus-bound filter material in agriculture as an alternative fertiliser or soil amendment," explains R.Ozola-Davidāne.
The goal of the project "Innovative Solution for Wastewater Treatment and Phosphorus Recovery (INOFOS)" No. 1-08/86/2024 is to develop and validate phosphorus filter technology under real operating conditions through a pilot demonstration. The aim is to deliver a practical solution for industry needs while ensuring sustainable resource use and compliance with EU regulations. The project is being implemented from 2024 to 2025 in cooperation with the Ministry of Climate and Energy’s Water Resources Department and SIA "Ādažu ūdens".
Video with researchLatvia Science Calendar 2025 scientist Ph. D. Rūta Ozola-Davidāne:
