Phosphorus (P) recovery from corn biorefineries is promising for mitigating environmental impacts and promoting the P circular economy

The intertwined issues of eutrophication and phosphate mineral resource scarcity have prompted the necessity for phosphorus (P) recovery. Corn biorefineries are considered a promising source for recovering P. We investigated the environmental impact and economic benefits of P recovery technology in corn biorefineries considering the sidestream P recovery and downstream animal manure nutrient reduction, and marginal impacts associated with economic scales. The results show that the P recovery technology for corn biorefineries can mitigate more than 70% of the mineral resource scarcity and avoid about 40% of eutrophication. While the economic benefits of P recovery technology are not reflected in small plant capacity, the environmental impacts reduce and economic benefits increase as economic scales increase. This study shows the co-benefits of P resource recovery and life-cycle eutrophication mitigation and the economic gain of P recovery for larger-scale corn biorefineries.