Recovery of Calcium Phosphates from Composted Chicken Manure

To recover phosphorus from composted chicken manure, a batch method with aqueous HNO3, HCl and H2SO4 was used to examine the elution behavior of the aqueous calcium and phosphate contained in the manure. Since the main components in manure are Ca2+ and K+ along with PO4 3- and those ions can be dissolved using an acidic eluate, it was expected that most of the aqueous Ca2+, K+ and PO4 3- could be obtained via the elution. Therefore, it seemed plausible that the removal of the aqueous K+ obtained by the elution of composted chicken manure would result in the formation of calcium phosphates. If calcium phosphates are formed, they can be used for phosphate rock, which also consists of various calcium phosphates. When using 0.1 mol/L HNO3, HCl or H2SO4, the elution behavior of the PO4 3- was not dependent on the acids. However, 0.1 mol/L H2SO4 was not sufficient for the elution of Ca2+, probably due to the precipitation of the calcium sulfate. The eluted amount of K+ using 0.1 mol/L HNO3 was lower than that using 0.1 mol/L of either HCl or H2SO4. Since the poor elution of K+ should enrich the concentrations of Ca2+ and PO4 3- in the acidic aqueous solution after the elution, it was suggested that aqueous HNO3 would be suitable as an eluate in the present system. After the elution of the composted chicken manure, when 0.1 mol/L HNO3 was used to adjust the solution pH of the acidic aqueous solution to greater than 6, Ca2+ and PO4 3- were precipitated, but K+ was not. The precipitate was calcium hydroxyapatite, one of the typical components of phosphate rock, which showed that composted chicken manure could be replaced phosphate rock as a new source of phosphorus.