Phosphorus Recovery from Hydroponics Waste Solutions and its Economic Potential – Supplementary Material

This dataset contains precipitation of nutrients present in hydroponic waste nutrient solution. Tables and figures contained in a word document to support the publication of the article titled Phosphorus Recovery from Hydroponics Waste Nutrient Solutions and its Economic Potential. Nutrient management, particularly phosphorus, is crucial for global food security due to its limited availability. This study investigates the extraction of phosphorus from hydroponic waste nutrient solutions (HWNS) using samples from various hydroponic farms. The results display elevated phosphorus levels, peaking at 70mg/L and a median of 20mg/L, in conjunction with a high median calcium concentration of 220 mg/L. This combination enhances the potential for efficient calcium phosphate precipitation. At a pH of 9.5, phosphorus removal reached consistently high levels, exceeding 94% and achieving a median value of 97.6%. The economic value of the recovered phosphorus was then compared to rock phosphates. Through chemical precipitation with micro-calcium phosphate, economic evaluations determined that to achieve production costs comparable to or below the market value of calcium phosphate, HWNS should contain a phosphorus concentration of at least 16 mg P/L.