Ammonia recovery from acidogenic fermentation effluents using a gas-permeable membrane contactor. (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Serra-Toro, A.; Vinardell, S.; Astals, S.; Madurga, S.; Llorens, J.; Mata-Álvarez, J.; Mas, F.; Dosta, J.
• Is Part Of: Bioresource technology. Volume 356(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: Membrane technology -- Nitrogen recovery -- Food waste fermentation -- Volatile fatty acids -- Biorefinery; Biomass -- Periodicals; Biomass energy -- Periodicals; Bioremediation -- Periodicals; Agricultural wastes -- Periodicals; Factory and trade waste -- Periodicals; Organic wastes -- Periodicals; Bioénergie -- Périodiques; Déchets agricoles -- Périodiques; Déchets industriels -- Périodiques; Déchets organiques -- Périodiques; Déchets (Combustible) -- Périodiques; 662.88
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127273
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-8524

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Membrane contactor efficiently recovered NH3 from a biowaste fermentation broth. Membrane contactor allowed a complete separation of NH3 from volatile fatty acids. Higher operating temperatures and pH enhanced NH3 mass transfer rate. NH3 was successfully recovered at alkaline pHs (9, 10 and 11) at 35 and 55 °C. Ions present in the fermentation broth were not detected in the trapping solution. Abstract: A gas-permeable membrane (GPM) contactor was used to recover ammoniacal nitrogen from a synthetic and a biowaste fermentation broth under different pH (from 6 to 11) and temperatures (35 and 55 °C). Ammonia mass transfer constant (Km ) increased as pH and temperature increased. For synthetic broth, pH 10 provided the best results, when considering the Km (9.2·10 -7 m·s - 1 ) and the reagents consumption (1.0 mol NaOH·mol - 1 TAN and 0.6 mol H2 SO4 ·mol - 1 TAN). Biowaste fermentation generated a broth with a high concentration of ammoniacal nitrogen (4.9 g N·L -1 ) and volatile fatty acids (VFA) (41.1 g COD·L -1 ). Experiments using the biowaste broth showed a lower Km (5.0·10 -7 m·s - 1 at pH 10) than the synthetic broth, related to the solution matrix and other species interference. VFAs were not detected in the trapping solution. Overall, these results show that GPM is a suitable technology to efficiently separate ammoniacal nitrogen and VFA from fermentation broths.