Abstract Struvite crystallization has been regarded as a sustainable route to recover phosphorus from wastewaters. In this study, sodium alginate (SA) was chosen as model extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) to investigate its impact on struvite crystallization. The experimental results demonstrate that SA can remarkably influence struvite morphogenesis, resulting from the selective adsorption and binding of SA molecules onto the crystal faces with higher Mg content. SA concentration-dependent experiments show that SA significantly inhibits struvite growth, and the growth inhibition is caused by the adsorption of SA onto struvite surface, thus blocking the active growth sites. We also found that the elevation in Mg/P ratio or initial pH (pHi) can promote struvite growth, thus compensating the adverse effect of SA. Considering that SA is model EPS, our results provide a new insight into the role of EPS on struvite crystallization from wastewater. This will help to improve struvite crystallization technique.

中文翻译：

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胞外聚合物模型对鸟粪石晶体生长和形态发生的影响：海藻酸钠的影响

摘要 鸟粪石结晶被认为是一种从废水中回收磷的可持续途径。在本研究中，海藻酸钠 (SA) 被选为模型胞外聚合物 (EPS) 以研究其对鸟粪石结晶的影响。实验结果表明，SA 可以显着影响鸟粪石的形态发生，这是由于 SA 分子选择性吸附和结合到具有较高 Mg 含量的晶面上。SA 浓度依赖性实验表明，SA 显着抑制鸟粪石的生长，生长抑制是由于 SA 吸附在鸟粪石表面，从而阻断了活性生长位点。我们还发现 Mg/P 比或初始 pH (pHi) 的升高可以促进鸟粪石的生长，从而补偿 SA 的不利影响。考虑到 SA 是模型 EPS，我们的结果为 EPS 在废水中鸟粪石结晶中的作用提供了新的见解。这将有助于改进鸟粪石结晶技术。