Abstract
Agricultural wastewater poses serious risks to the environment due to how it is injudiciously used and managed. We investigated the use of pomegranate peel powder (PPP) to adsorb ammonium ions from milking parlor wastewater, which is applied as a nitrogen source for cropland fertilization despite its environmental ramifications. As a valueless by-product of juice and jam industries, PPP shows promising features and characteristics as a potential bio-adsorbent for ammonium nitrogen removal and recovery. The surface characterization of PPP was performed by zeta potential measurement and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) analysis. The adsorption studies were carried out by batch experiments where the initial ammonium nitrogen (NH4–N) concentration of studied wastewater was 80 mg/L. The effects of different operational parameters, such as pH, adsorbent dose, contact time, stirring speed, and temperature, were investigated. From kinetic studies, the equilibrium time was found to be 120 min, achieving an 81.8% removal synonym of ~2.5 mg/g NH4–N uptake. The adsorption isotherm data fitted well with Langmuir model with correlation (R2) > 0.99. Meanwhile, the kinetics followed pseudo-second order model with correlation (R2) > 0.99.
Highlights
Milking parlor units consume significant amounts of water for drinking, washing, cleaning, and feed processing, and contribute to freshwater resource depletion
Ammonium nitrogen (NH4–N) is one of the main components of milking parlor wastewater [2], and when in excess concentration, its release into bodies of water leads to serious environmental ramifications such as eutrophication, acid deposition, reactive nitrogen emissions, global warming, and over-fertilized soils [3,4]
Since the surface area of an adsorbent is a determinant parameter in the adsorption process [22], the specific surface area of the pomegranate peel powder (PPP) was determined by a Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) surface analyzer Horiba SA-9600 with liquid N2 at 77 K (−196.15 ◦C)
Summary
Milking parlor units consume significant amounts of water for drinking, washing, cleaning, and feed processing, and contribute to freshwater resource depletion. These parlor units produce large volumes of nitrogen-rich wastewater that can be used in agriculture to enhance soil fertility, especially in regions where wastewater treatment services are not available. Because clean water is becoming even more scarce, using this type of wastewater for irrigation will continue to increase This management option is no longer sustainable due to its negative environmental impacts and health risks. The traditiocnoamlmmuneittihesowdituhsaendintcoreamsinigtifgoaotdedtehmiasndparnodblaenmindiisscrtiomirneacteyucslee otfhcihsemwicaasl tfeertiinlizteorsa[n5]i.mal feed or Current wastewater treatment technologies place a heavy burden on dairy farm management, compost.
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