Vacuum ammonia stripping from liquid digestate: Effects of pH, alkalinity, temperature, negative pressure and process optimization

Abstract

High ammonia-nitrogen digestate has become a key bottleneck limiting the anaerobic digestion of organic solid waste. Vacuum ammonia stripping can simultaneously remove and recover ammonia nitrogen, which has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. To investigate the parameter effects on the efficiency and mass transfer, five combination conditions (53 °C 15 kPa, 60 °C 20 kPa, 65 °C 25 kPa, 72 °C 35 kPa, and 81 °C 50 kPa) were conducted for ammonia stripping of sludge digestate. The results showed that 80% of ammonia nitrogen was stripped in 45 min for all experimental groups, but the ammonia transfer coefficient varied under different conditions, which increased with the rising of boiling point temperature, and reached the maximum value (39.0 mm/hr) at 81 °C 50 kPa. The ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency was more than 80% for 30 min vacuum stripping after adjusting the initial pH to above 9.5, and adjustment of the initial alkalinity also affects the pH value of liquid digestate. It was found that pH and alkalinity are the key factors influencing the ammonia nitrogen dissociation and removal efficiency, while temperature and vacuum mainly affect the ammonia nitrogen mass transfer and removal velocity. In terms of the mechanism of vacuum ammonia stripping, it underwent alkalinity destruction, pH enhancement, ammonia nitrogen dissociation, and free ammonia removal. In this study, two-stage experiments of alkalinity destruction and ammonia removal were also carried out, which showed that the two-stage configuration was beneficial for ammonia removal. It provides a theoretical basis and practical technology for the vacuum ammonia stripping from liquid digestate of organic solid waste.