Ion exchange (IEX) processes are a promising alternative to remove and recover nutrients from municipal wastewater. To assess the feasibility and viability of IEX processes for full-scale application, this study aimed at providing an evaluation of performance and economics on upscaling these processes for two different configurations in a 10,000 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and compared them with a traditional biological nutrient removal (BNR) plant. The IEX processes were designed based on existing pilot-scale data, and after aerobic or anaerobic carbon removal stages. The nutrients were recovered from spent regenerants in the form of (NH₄)₂SO₄ and hydroxyapatite Ca₅(PO₄)₃(OH), allowing regenerant reuse. The 40-year whole life cost (WLC) of IEX coupled with traditional activated sludge processes was estimated to be ~£7.4 M, and WLC of IEX coupled with anaerobic membrane process was estimated to be £6.1 M, which was, respectively, 17% and 27% less than the traditional BNR based WWTP. Furthermore, ~98 tonnes of (NH₄)₂SO₄ and 3.4 tonnes of Ca₃(PO₄)₂ could be recovered annually. The benefits of lower costs, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient recovery aligned with circular economy, illustrated that IEX processes are attractive for nutrient removal and recovery from municipal wastewater.

离子交换（IEX）工艺是从城市废水中去除和回收养分的有前途的替代方法。为了评估IEX工艺大规模应用的可行性和可行性，本研究旨在评估在10,000人当量废水处理厂（WWTP）中针对两种不同配置升级这些工艺的性能和经济性，并将它们与传统的生物营养去除（BNR）植物。IEX工艺是根据现有的中试规模数据设计的，并经过好氧或厌氧除碳阶段。以（NH ₄）₂ SO ₄和羟基磷灰石Ca ₅（PO ₄）形式从废再生剂中回收营养物。₃（OH），允许再生剂重复使用。IEX加上传统活性污泥工艺的40年全寿命成本（WLC）估计约为740万英镑，而IEX结合厌氧膜工艺的40年整体寿命成本估计为610万英镑，分别为17 ％和27％低于传统的基于BNR的污水处理厂。此外，每年可回收约98吨（NH ₄）₂ SO ₄和3.4吨Ca ₃（PO ₄）₂。成本降低，温室气体排放减少和养分回收与循环经济相吻合的好处表明，IEX流程对于从城市废水中去除养分和回收养分具有吸引力。