Agizew, Nigussie (PhD)Zerihun, Getaneh (Mr.) Co-AdvisorEphrata, Tewhibo2020-03-052023-11-282020-03-052023-11-282019-10http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/20871Nutrients mainly nitrogen and phosphorous exist in wastewater excessively. If uncontrolled, they lead to eutrophication problem which has adverse impacts on the social, economic and ecological values of surface water bodies. Urine is a significant contributor of phosphorus and nitrogen found in domestic waste water. Therefore, recovery of these nutrients from urine removes the excess amount of nutrients and prevents environmental pollution. In addition removal of Phosphorus in wastewater treatment plants is costly and limits its recovery and use as a resource. Recovery of nutrients from source separated urine would increase the efficiency in nitrogen and phosphorous removal and reuse capacity. The objective of this research was to examine different parameters affecting the recovery of nitrogen and phosphorous through adsorption process by using biochar produced from corn cob(CC), coffee husk(CH) and water hyacinth(WH) and determine nutrient recovery efficiencies of each biochar from human urine. In this research, the impacts of different parameters which can affect nutrient recovery from source separated urine using biochar were examined to get optimal values. The nutrient recovery process was conducted under different pH (3-8), biochar dosage (0.2-1g) and contact time (30-150min.) on urines of different storage time (15days, 1 month and 2 month). The optimum working values of pH and contact time were 6 and 60 minutes, respectively. The optimum dosages were 0.4g, 0.6g and 0.8g for 15 days, 1 month and 2 months stored urine. Highest NH4 + 3— -N and PO4 P recoveries were obtained from urine that had two months of storage time. Therefore, urine with two months storage time was selected as optimal. Under these optimum values, the nitrogen recovery efficiencies of biochars produced from CC, CH and WH were 94.13%, 77.99% and 85.78%, respectively. The recovery efficiencies of phosphorous from human urine were 68.60%, 71.14% and 57.72 % using CC, CH and WH, respectively. CC produced biochar was the best compared to CH and WH biochars. Biochars produced from wastes have good potentials for nutrient recovery from source separated urines. Besides, the use of waste as resource is in line with sustainable waste management and contributes to environmental pollution control.en-USbiocharefficiencyrecoverysource separated urinenitrogenphosphorousThesis