Helmut Rechberger

Prof. Dr. Helmut Rechberger

Institute for Water Quality, Resource and Waste Management and Centre for Water Resource Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13/226, A-1040 Vienna, Austria
orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

26Years (2001-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 March 2015 in Waste Management
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
PBPaul H. Brunner
Paul H. Brunner
HRHelmut Rechberger
Helmut Rechberger

1 November 2016 in Science of The Total Environment
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
LEL. Egle
L. Egle
HRHelmut Rechberger
Helmut Rechberger
Jörg KrampeJörg Krampe
Jörg Krampe
Matthias  ZessnerMatthias Zessner
Matthias Zessner
Phosphorus (P) is an essential and limited resource. Municipal wastewater is a promising source of P via reuse and could be used to replace P derived from phosphate rocks. The agricultural use of sewage sludge is restricted by legislation or is not practiced in several European countries due to environmental risks posed by organic micropollutants and pathogens. Several technologies have been developed in recent years to recover wastewater P. However, these technologies target different P-containing flows in wastewater treatment plants (effluent, digester supernatant, sewage sludge, and sewage sludge ash), use diverse engineering approaches and differ greatly with respect to P recycling rate, potential of removing or destroying pollutants, product quality, environmental impact and cost. This work compares 19 relevant P recovery technologies by considering their relationships with existing wastewater and sludge treatment systems. A combination of different methods, such as material flow analysis, damage units, reference soil method, annuity method, integrated cost calculation and a literature study on solubility, fertilizing effects and handling of recovered materials, is used to evaluate the different technologies with respect to technical, ecological and economic aspects. With regard to the manifold origins of data an uncertainty concept considering validity of data sources is applied. This analysis revealed that recovery from flows with dissolved P produces clean and plant-available materials. These techniques may even be beneficial from economic and technical perspectives under specific circumstances. However, the recovery rates (a maximum of 25%) relative to the wastewater treatment plant influent are relatively low. The approaches that recover P from sewage sludge apply complex technologies and generally achieve effective removal of heavy metals at moderate recovery rates (~40-50% relative to the WWTP input) and comparatively high costs. Sewage sludge ash is the most promising P source, with recovery rates of 60-90% relative to the wastewater P. The costs highly depend on the purity requirements of the recycled products but can be kept comparatively low, especially if synergies with existing industrial processes are exploited.

1 February 2019 in Journal of Cleaner Production
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
APAlexej Parchomenko
Alexej Parchomenko
DNDirk Nelen
Dirk Nelen
JGJeroen Gillabel
Jeroen Gillabel
HRHelmut Rechberger
Helmut Rechberger

1 September 2004 in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
PDF file
PBPaul H. Brunner
Paul H. Brunner
HRHelmut Rechberger
Helmut Rechberger

1 March 2018 in Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
AAArabel Amann
Arabel Amann
OZOttavia Zoboli
Ottavia Zoboli
Jörg KrampeJörg Krampe
Jörg Krampe
HRHelmut Rechberger
Helmut Rechberger
Matthias  ZessnerMatthias Zessner
Matthias Zessner
LEL. Egle
L. Egle

1 December 2015 in Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
LELukas Egle
Lukas Egle
HRHelmut Rechberger
Helmut Rechberger
Matthias  ZessnerMatthias Zessner
Matthias Zessner