Development, implementation, and validation of a generic nutrient recovery model (NRM) library

The reported research developed a generic nutrient recovery model (NRM) library based on detailed chemical solution speciation and reaction kinetics, with focus on fertilizer quality and quantity as model outputs. Dynamic physicochemical three-phase process models for precipitation/crystallization, stripping and acidic air scrubbing as key unit processes were developed. In addition, a compatible biologicalphysicochemical anaerobic digester model was built. The latter includes sulfurgenesis, biological N/P/K/S release/uptake, interactions with organics, among other relevant processes, such as precipitation, ion pairing and liquid-gas transfer. Using a systematic database reduction procedure, a 3to 5-fold improvement of model simulation speeds was obtained as compared to using full standard thermodynamic databases. Missing components and reactions in existing standard databases were discovered. Hence, a generic nutrient recovery database was created for future applications. The models were verified and validated against a range of experimental results. Their functionality in terms of increased process understanding and optimization was demonstrated. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Software and database availability Name Nutrient Recovery Model (NRM) library þ Nutricover.dat database Contact C eline Vaneeckhaute, BioEngine, Research team on green process engineering and biorefineries, Chemical Engineering Department, Universit e Laval, 1065 avenue de la M edecine, Pavillon AdrienPouliot, Qu ebec, QC, Canada, G1V 0A6, Tel. 1 418 656 28 59, E-mail: [email protected] Year first available 2016 l.ca (C. Vaneeckhaute), fhcl@ (F.M.G. Tack), Erik.Meers@ [email protected]. r Ltd. This is an open access article un Software required WEST or Tornado (http://www. mikepoweredbydhi.com/products/west) and/or PHREEQC (http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs. gov/projects/GWC_coupled/phreeqc/) Programming language Modelica and C Availability Source code and databases can be obtained on request by contacting the corresponding author Cost Free