IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i8p2867-d163439.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Model for the Optimal Recovery of Multiple Substances from Waste Water with a Focus on Phosphate

Author

Listed:
  • Jan C. Bongaerts

    (Faculty of Business Administration, University of Resources TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Schlossplatz 1, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
    German Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology GMIT, 14210 Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia)

Abstract

In recent times, the issue of a “Phosphate Peak” has entered the academic debate and it is widely present in social media. Arguments in favour and against are similar to those mentioned in the much earlier debate on the “Oil Peak”. However, whereas the “Oil Peak” is supply driven, the “Phosphate Peak”, if at all, is demand driven. In contrast with oil, most of which is chemically transformed in CO 2 , vapor and other constituting elements, phosphate is not “consumed” during its primary use as a fertilizer. Hence, whilst phosphate rock, from which phosphate is mined, is a depletable resource, phosphate itself is potentially recyclable and re-usable. Research on the technologies for such a recovery is manifold and, specifically, efforts are spent on waste water as a source of phosphate. This, if successful, could lead to a changing perception of waste water treatment plants as a set of backstop technologies to eliminate an environmental problem into a “secondary liquid mine” from which phosphate, but not only phosphate, could be extracted for re-use. Hence, for that purpose, an economic model of efficient extraction of phosphate and other elements from waste water in a waste water treatment plant could give guidance to operators. This paper presents such a model describing the optimal simultaneous extraction of several elements, including phosphate, from a “secondary liquid mine”. The elements are assumed to be present in given proportions (ratios) in this “mine” and the model shows that these ratios have an impact on the optimal extraction path and on resulting “implicit” shadow pricing rules to be adopted by the waste water treatment plant operator.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan C. Bongaerts, 2018. "A Model for the Optimal Recovery of Multiple Substances from Waste Water with a Focus on Phosphate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-13, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2867-:d:163439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2867/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2867/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Caputo,Michael R., 2005. "Foundations of Dynamic Economic Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521842723.
    2. Dana Cordell & Stuart White, 2011. "Peak Phosphorus: Clarifying the Key Issues of a Vigorous Debate about Long-Term Phosphorus Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(10), pages 1-23, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gerald Steiner & Bernhard Geissler, 2018. "Sustainable Mineral Resource Management—Insights into the Case of Phosphorus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-8, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Drouhin, Nicolas, 2015. "A rank-dependent utility model of uncertain lifetime," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 208-224.
    2. Alice Issanchou & Karine Daniel & Pierre Dupraz & Carole Ropars-Collet, 2018. "Soil resource and the profitability and sustainability of farms: A soil quality investment model," Working Papers SMART 18-01, INRAE UMR SMART.
    3. Kataki, Sampriti & West, Helen & Clarke, Michèle & Baruah, D.C., 2016. "Phosphorus recovery as struvite: Recent concerns for use of seed, alternative Mg source, nitrogen conservation and fertilizer potential," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 142-156.
    4. Niyirora, Jerome & Zhuang, Jun, 2017. "Fluid approximations and control of queues in emergency departments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 1110-1124.
    5. Caputo, Michael R. & Dragone, Davide, 2022. "Rational agents might be overweight, underweight, or the physiologically optimal weight," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    6. Marek Kopecký & Ladislav Kolář & Petr Konvalina & Otakar Strunecký & Florina Teodorescu & Petr Mráz & Jiří Peterka & Radka Váchalová & Jaroslav Bernas & Petr Bartoš & Feodor Filipov & Daniel Bucur, 2020. "Modified Biochar—A Tool for Wastewater Treatment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-13, October.
    7. Ming Tang & Huchang Liao & Zhengjun Wan & Enrique Herrera-Viedma & Marc A. Rosen, 2018. "Ten Years of Sustainability (2009 to 2018): A Bibliometric Overview," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    8. John Stachurski, 2009. "Economic Dynamics: Theory and Computation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012774, December.
    9. Chen Ling & Michael Caputo, 2012. "The Envelope Theorem for Locally Differentiable Nash Equilibria of Discounted and Autonomous Infinite Horizon Differential Games," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 313-334, September.
    10. Jan Zabojnik, 2011. "Subjective Evaluations With Performance Feedback," Working Paper 1283, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    11. Caputo, Michael R., 2007. "The envelope theorem for locally differentiable Nash equilibria of finite horizon differential games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 198-224, November.
    12. Daniel Reißmann & Daniela Thrän & Alberto Bezama, 2018. "Key Development Factors of Hydrothermal Processes in Germany by 2030: A Fuzzy Logic Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, December.
    13. Karel Mulder, 2019. "Future Options for Sewage and Drainage Systems Three Scenarios for Transitions and Continuity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-15, March.
    14. Josa-Fombellida, Ricardo & Navas, Jorge, 2020. "Time consistent pension funding in a defined benefit pension plan with non-constant discounting," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 142-153.
    15. Thanh Tran & Kanghyun Yoon & Stefan Genchev, 2017. "Lump‐Sum versus Pay‐As‐You‐Go: The Moderating Effect of Contract Types on the Optimal Logistics Decisions," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 547-555, June.
    16. Bolin, Kristian & Lindgren, Björn, 2014. "Non-monotonic health behaviours - implications for individual health-related behaviour in a demand-for-health framework," Working Papers in Economics 588, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    17. Eli Fenichel & Timothy Richards & David Shanafelt, 2014. "The Control of Invasive Species on Private Property with Neighbor-to-Neighbor Spillovers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 59(2), pages 231-255, October.
    18. Marissa A. De Boer & Anjelika G. Romeo-Hall & Tomas M. Rooimans & J. Chris Slootweg, 2018. "An Assessment of the Drivers and Barriers for the Deployment of Urban Phosphorus Recovery Technologies: A Case Study of The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, May.
    19. Jean-Bernard Chatelain & Bruno Tinel & Karim Azizi & Nicolas Canry, 2012. "Are the No-Ponzi Game and the Transversality Conditions Relevant for Public Debt? A Keynesian Appraisal," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00686788, HAL.
    20. Cesar Tamayo, 2015. "Investor protection and optimal contracts under risk aversion and costly state verification," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 59(3), pages 547-577, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2867-:d:163439. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.