Struvite biomineralization as a promising solution to break the pollutant-resource paradox of phosphorus

Phosphorus is an important mineral resource for ensuring food security, and its uncontrolled excessive artificial release may lead to crisis phenomena such as phosphorus shortage. Struvite biomineralization (STB), an emerging eco-friendly technology, offers effective recovery and recycling of phosphorus resources compared to traditional methods. To tackle the crisis of phosphorus resource scarcity, it is crucial to comprehensively understand the process and mechanisms involved in STB. This review delves into the steps and mechanisms of STB biomineralization, analyzing the impact of environmental factors such as pH, heavy metals, salinity, temperature, and culture medium. Additionally, the review discusses strategies to enhance STB efficiency, particularly through microbial immobilization technology. Notably, current research primarily focuses on synthetic pollutants, highlighting the need to comprehensively understand influential factors and distinguish between the treatment outcomes for real and synthetic pollutants. Based on these insights, potential avenues for future research are explored. In conclusion, this review provides an overview of the current state of research in the STB domain, highlighting challenges and potential solutions for phosphorus recovery using this method.