W-02 Engineering Education Program for Top Level Graduates Students by Smart Dormitory

- Developing the Phosphorus Recovery Process and Synthesizing Phosphorus Fertilizer from Sludge Ash for building a resource recycling society -

Abstract

Niigata University has a project called “Smart Dormitory,” which is a unique initiative of the engineering faculty that allows students to participate in full-scale research activities from the first year. In this project, group activities across departments and academic years are conducted under the guidance of senior students and faculty members.
One of the projects is “Development of resource recycling technology for recovering phosphorus from sewage sludge ash” in which we have been participated. Recently, the price of phosphorus fertilizers has risen up sharply. Because of the lack of natural phosphorus resources in Japan, securing its own phosphorus resources is an issue of significance.
Therefore, we have directed our attention to sludge ash, namely a waste product of sewage treatment plants. This sludge ash contains phosphorus (P₂O₅) at the same level as the low rank phosphorus ore, but it also includes metals and heavy metals. If we succeed in removing heavy metals, we could recycle and reuse phosphorus resources, and contribute to the realization of a phosphorus recycling society.
In order to investigate the effectiveness of the phosphorus fertilizer recovered, in this study, we have carried out a pot experiment of green-soybeans and a field experiment of sweet potato in collaboration with the Faculty of Agriculture, and harvested sweet potatoes.