Processing cooling tower blowdown to produce fertilizer

A system comprising:

• a blowdown water storage tank in fluid communication with a cooling tower, the blowdown water storage tank configured to receive blowdown water from the cooling tower, wherein the blowdown water comprises phosphorus;
• an ion exchange vessel in fluid communication with the blowdown water storage tank, the ion exchange vessel configured to receive the blowdown water from the blowdown water storage tank, the ion exchange vessel comprising an ion exchange resin packing configured to adsorb at least a portion of the phosphorus from the blowdown water as the blowdown water comes into contact with the ion exchange resin packing to produce a water stream having a phosphorus content that is less than a phosphorus content of the blowdown water;
• a regenerant storage tank in fluid communication with the ion exchange vessel, the regenerant storage tank storing a regenerant comprising sodium chloride, wherein the ion exchange vessel is configured to receive the regenerant from the regenerant storage tank, and the regenerant is configured to desorb at a least a portion of the phosphorus that has adsorbed to the ion exchange resin packing, from the ion exchange resin packing as the regenerant comes into contact with the ion exchange resin packing to produce a spent regenerant stream;
• a spent regenerant storage tank in fluid communication with the ion exchange vessel, the spent regenerant storage tank configured to receive the spent regenerant stream from the ion exchange vessel;
• a reaction vessel in fluid communication with the spent regenerant storage tank, the reaction vessel configured to receive the spent regenerant stream from the spent regenerant storage tank, a first reactant stream comprising magnesium ions, and a second reactant stream comprising ammonium ions, the reaction vessel configured to mix the spent regenerant stream, the first reactant stream, and the second reactant stream to produce a product comprising struvite;
• a first backwash storage tank in fluid communication with the ion exchange vessel, the first backwash storage tank configured to receive at least a portion of the water stream from the ion exchange vessel, wherein the portion of the water stream is circulated back to the ion exchange vessel to remove at least a portion of solids from the ion exchange resin packing to produce a backwash stream;
• and
• a second backwash storage tank in fluid communication with the ion exchange vessel, the second backwash storage tank configured to receive the backwash stream from the ion exchange vessel and store the backwash stream for subsequent processing or disposal.