AMMONIA REMOVAL FROM WASTEWATER
Dr. Rakesh Govind
Introduction
Ammonia is widely used in the Chemical Industry as a cleaning and bleaching agent in the
production of fertilizers, plastics, and explosives just to name a few. The discharge of ammonia
from wastewater treatment plants and industrial processes has become a challenging issue
through the United States. Many concentrated wastewater streams produced in food and agro-
industry are treated using sludge digestion, and effluents from this process frequently contain
ammonia in high concentrations (up to 2 kg/m3). Typically, 40-50-% of the total nitrogen in a
municipal treatment plant is found as ammonia in the centrate or filtrate streams. Ammonia is
widely used in the chemical industry in the production of fertilizers, plastics and explosive,
resulting in large quantities of wastewater containing ammonia.
Ammonia can be separated from water using a variety of processes, which includes:
• Ion Exchange: Uses clinoptilolite, a naturally occurring zeolite, which has a classical
alumino-silicate cage-like structure, with significant macroporosity.
• Biological Nitrification to nitrate: Uses two different types of aerobic autotrophic
bacteria that oxidize ammonia to nitrite (nitrosomonas) and then oxidize nitrite to nitrate
(nitrobacter).
• Flash Vacuum Distillation: Systems using heat transfer surfaces suffer from fouling of
these surfaces.
• Membrane Separation: A porous membrane separates the flow of wastewater from the
countercurrent flow of sulfuric acid solution, with the ammonium ion crossing through
the membrane pores to form ammonium sulfate solution, which is sold as a fertilizer.
• Adsorption: Phosphoric acid impregnated activated carbon adsorbs ammonia from a gas
stream, and when this carbon is saturated with ammonium phosphate, the carbon is sent
for regeneration or discarded.
• Air Stripping: As pH increases, the volatility of ammonia increases, and this property
can be utilized to air strip ammonia out of water at a high pH.
Recent Methods for Ammonia Removal
Biological Conversion of Ammonia:
Ammonia can be removed by a biological, fixed-film process that uses live bacteria to oxidize
the ammonia to nitrates and then simultaneously reduce the nitrates to nitrogen gas. This process
has the following advantages:
• Small liquid residence time in the bioreactor that uses a special, high surface area
biomedia to effectively increase biofilm capacity and reaction rates;
• Economical, with low cost of treatment
• Effective: Can reduce ammonia concentrations from several hundred ppms to less than 10
ppm;
• Low Operating Cost: Typically uses an agent to increase alkalinity, if there is
insufficient alkalinity in the feed water;
• Combines the advantages of adsorption with biological treatment capability, requiring no
change of biomedia;
• Compact: The equipment can be skid-mounted, and has a small footprint;
• Tested: Has performed at full-scale at a sludge treatment facility
This biological process has been operating wherein it achieves a high treatment efficiency, with
influent ammonia levels ranging from 300-700 mg/L. Figure 1 below shows a schematic of the
biological ammonia treatment process that has successfully operated at a sludge processing
facility.
Figure 1. Biological Treatment of Ammonia in Wastewaters.
L AIR
NH3
T
TREATED
EFFLUENT TO PLATE SEPARATOR
L
pH M
RECEIVING TANK
DO
NITRIFICATION FS
REACTOR
PI
V
=
FT VFD
=
INFLUENT = NUTRIENT
LIQUID MAGNESIUM
FLOW RECYCLE TANK HYDROXIDE
PUMP
SHEET TITLE: WATER TREATMENT PLANT PRD TECH, INC.
DRAWING NO.
1776 MENTOR AVENUE; MLB # 107
G1 PROJECT TITLE: BIOSOLIDS PROCESSING FACILITY CINCINNATI, OH 45212
Membrane Degassing of Ammonia:
Another recent process for ammonia removal uses Membrane Degassing. This is a physical-
chemical process which is compact, highly efficient and easy to operate. Typically, this process
is supplied skid-mounted, and can remove ammonia from a variety of wastewaters. The
ammonia gas, once degassed from the water, is converted to a variety of fertilizers, such as
ammonia solution, ammonium sulfate or ammonium phosphate. Figure 2 below shows the basic
principle behind the Membrane Degassing process.
Figure 2. Principle of the Membrane Degassing Process.
A membrane separates the water, containing dissolved gas, from the low gas-phase pressure
side, thereby allowing the dissolved gas to transport across the membrane into the gaseous side.
This principle can be used to separate any dissolved gas, such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide,
carbon dioxide or oxygen. Table 1 below gives some of the advantages of using a membrane
contactor instead of a traditional spray, sparged or packed tower systems.
Table 1. Advantages of Membrane Contactors.
Contacting System
Operating
Traditional
Characteristic
Membrane
(Spray, Sparged, Packed Bed)
Low energy
Energy Energy intensive, requiring good
consumption with low
Consumption turbulence in liquid phase
pressure drops
Gas and Liquid Gas and liquid pressures are related,
Pressure pressures can be since both phases have to physically
independently controlled mix
Good mixing between the two phases
No physical mixing of
Mixing needed, resulting in entrainment,
the gas and liquid flows
channeling, foaming, flooding
Gas and liquid flows have to within a
Flexibility Large turndown ratio
specific range
Large towers requiring gas blowers,
System Size Small, modular, scalable
recycle pumps, media
Order of magnitude
Contact Surface higher contact surface Limited by turbulence within the liqui
Area area than traditional phase
systems
Horizontal or Vertical;
Orientation No gravity flow Liquid flows down by gravity
required; small footprint
The Membrane Degassing process offers the following advantages:
• Highly efficient in removing ammonia from wastewaters to concentrations typically less
than 5 mg/L;
• Very compact, skid-mounted, and easily installed;
• Cos-effective, with possible payback from the sales of fertilizer liquid;
• Can treat high and low water flowrates in a compact space; and
• Low investment and operating costs.
Figure 3 below shows a schematic of the Membrane Degassing process. The water, after pH
increase, flows through a membrane contactor, in which vacuum pressure is applied to the other
side to extract the ammonia gas.
The extracted ammonia gas, at nearly pure concentration, can be used for treating NOx from
burners, or converted to a variety of liquid fertilizers, such as ammonia solution, ammonium
sulfate, ammonium nitrate, or struvite. In some cases, the sale of the fertilizer product can
provide a decent economic payback for this process that is not achieved using the Biological
Treatment process.
Figure 3. Schematic of the Membrane Degassing Process.
The Membrane Degassing process is a significantly more efficient system than a traditional air
stripping and air treatment system, which entails two large tray or packed towers and a large gas
blower. Also, issues with fouling of the trays and packing materials due to biological growth and
iron deposition are clearly avoided. Figure 4 shows the physical layout of a typical Membrane
Degassing process on a skid.
Figure 4. Physical Layout of a typical Membrane Degassing process.
The above process is configured with one feed tank, one intermediate tank in which the ammonia
gas is absorbed in sulfuric acid to make liquid fertilizer product, and one final tank. The process,
as shown has four membrane modules, mounted vertically.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Dr. Rakesh Govind has conducted basic research on biological treatment of contaminated
exhaust gases, membrane systems and wastewater for over 25 years and currently is President of
PRD Tech, Inc. PRD Tech, Inc. specializes in the design and supply of biofilters for treatment of
odors and volatile organics and supplying innovative wastewater treatment systems for a wide
variety of industries. For further information, please contact via phone or email: Dr. Rakesh
Govind, PRD Tech, Inc., 1776 Mentor Avenue; STE 400A, Cincinnati, OH 45212; Tel: (513)
673-3583, Fax: (513) 984-5710; Email: rgovind837@[Link]
