Directional transformation and migration pathways of nitrogen during pig manure supercritical water gasification

Abstract

Nitrogen is a valuable nutrient element in pig manure. This work focuses on investigating the distribution, directional transformation, and migration pathways to facilitate the recovery of nitrogen from supercritical water gasification products. Results indicated that no nitrogen-containing gas was detected and 12.65 % of nitrogen remained in solid products. 82.49 % of nitrogen migrated into liquid products, which are predominated by ammonia. Catalysts were employed to promote the conversion of solid nitrogen to liquid nitrogen and organic nitrogen to ammonia. Finally, 85 % of nitrogen is enriched into liquid products and ammonia predominated the liquid nitrogen. The percentage of ammonia increased to 97.51 % at 620 °C in the presence of potassium carbonate. The migration pathways indicated that nitrogen was transformed into ammonia by various intermediates such as indole. The rest of the nitrogen remained in solid products with stable quaternary-nitrogen. These findings provide valuable insights into nitrogen management and recovery.