Toward Sustainable Biomining of Phosphorous Using Encapsulated Phosphorous Accumulating Organisms

Phosphorus is a natural material that plants use to grow. Farming uses a very large amount of phosphorus. Some of this phosphorus enters rivers, lakes, and streams, which can lead to environmental problems. Phosphorus can be recovered from wastewater plants. Unfortunately, current methods for recovering phosphorus from wastewater are not easy to control. This project will create a more reliable method to recover phosphorus from existing wastewater treatment systems. The work will help protect water resources and reduce pollution. It will also support education and job training for students and wastewater treatment workers. This project will develop a modular phosphorus recovery process to separate nutrients from wastewater. The project will develop and evaluate a biologically based material in which microorganisms that can capture phosphorus are immobilized within a polymer structure promoting phosphorus recovery. The research team will investigate material performance in the wastewater environment, microorganism population dynamics, and system efficiency under a range of operating conditions. Experimental results will be combined with process modeling to understand reaction rates and inform scale-up. The project will use life cycle analysis to compare the new process with existing recovery methods. Beyond technological development, the project will generate new insight into microbial processes that influence phosphorus capture, supporting both conventional and emerging treatment strategies. Together, these efforts will advance fundamental understanding while delivering actionable knowledge for more resilient and sustainable wastewater treatment systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2539138 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: James Moberly | Institution: Regents of the University of Idaho, MOSCOW, ID | Award Amount: $522,593 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2539138 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2539138.html