Alkaline Wood Ash, Turbulence, and Traps with Excess of Sulfuric Acid Do Not Strip Completely the Ammonia off an Agro-waste Digestate

Abelenda, Alejandro Moure; Semple, Kirk T.; Lag-Brotons, Alfonso J.; Herbert, Ben; Aggidis, George A.; Aiouache, Farid

doi:10.33805/2641-7383.127

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…A benefit of this methodology, compared to the closed chamber, is that it allows quantification of the emissions of NH 3 and CO 2 with titrations of the brine because, unlike the pH of the H 2 SO 4 solution, the pH of the brine does change considerably due to the absorption of NH 3 and CO 2 , which makes possible to avoid specialized analytical equipment (e.g., Autoanalyzer segmented flow colorimetry or Total Nitrogen machine). Interestingly, the absorption of NH 3 in H 2 SO 4 solution implies, as in the brine of the anhydrous salt, a decrease in pH (Moure Abelenda et al, 2021a), due to the formation of the acidic salt (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , similarly to the developed artifact, which stores the NH 3 as NH 4 Cl and decreases the pH. The range of pH of the CaCl 2 brine is more suitable to detect low amounts of NH 3 absorbed in the liquid, compared to the very low pH of the acid H 2 SO 4 solutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous investigation, the initial pH of 10-mL solutions of H 2 SO 4 (with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1 M) placed in the trap of the closed chamber method was 0.92 ± 0.005. Due to the absorption of NH 3 released from the incubation of 3.22 ± 1.43 g of whole agrowaste anaerobic digestate (AWD) at pH 10.40 ± 0.46 for 60 h at 100 rpm at 20°C, the pH of the H 2 SO 4 solutions decreased 0.25 ± 0.02 units (Moure Abelenda et al, 2021a). Assuming that all the NH 3 released ended in the H 2 SO 4 trap, the rates of volatilization were: et al, 2022b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developing a novel technology for slurry management by project-based learning

Moure Abelenda,

Roberts

2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Farming is responsible for 30% of global anthropogenic emissions. A novel technology, aligning with current regulations of covering slurry stores, has been developed for processing anaerobic digestate liquor, which is obtained from the screw press stage. Instead of using hazardous chemicals, such as sulfuric acid, to capture ammonia and greenhouse gases, the artifact contains calcium chloride as deliquescent salt. Preliminary simulations in Aspen Plus® v12 showed that the absorption of NH3 and carbon dioxide during the solid–liquid separation was feasible and the resulting clean brine could be used as chemical amendment of untreated slurry. The characterization of the performance of the artifact was organized following a project-based learning active teaching method, for a group of 3 students (17-year-olds) of secondary education, as part of the In2ScienceUK program. The collection of empirical data allowed the contents of the curriculum to be contextualized, enhancing environmental awareness of participants. A titrimetric method was employed to determine the content of NH3 and CO2 in the brine, and the granulation of the dewatered liquor with the fibers of anaerobic digestate was investigated by determining the compression strength required to break the pellets. The operation capacity of the prototype was found to be 250 m3 of liquor per year, at a cost of £1/m3. The use of the filtered brine as chemical amendment also represented an additional 5.60 grams of ammoniacal nitrogen and 0.96 grams of inorganic carbon per cubic meter of unprocessed slurry. The concentrated liquor was a good binding agent that provided the pellets with a compressive strength of 207.00 ± 26.36 N, which was above the threshold value for commercialization purposes (50 N). The advances in the development of the prototype enhanced the suitability of the technology for industrial scale applications but hindered the adoption of subsequent editions of this pedagogic tool.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a novel technology for slurry management by project-based learning

Moure Abelenda,

Roberts

2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…Moreover, a mild dose of wood ash can be used without open-loop acidification (i.e., without using commercial acids: H 2 SO 4 , HCl, HNO 3 , and CH 3 CH(OH)COOH) to achieve the pH zpc by means of NH 3 volatilization (i.e., noninvasive acidification; Equation (2)). Nevertheless, the implementation of a method to recover the NH 4 + -N is required, such as absorption of the NH 3 volatilized into a H 2 SO 4 solution [90,91]. In fact, this is a route for the valorization of the anaerobic digestate and production of a mineral-grade fertilizer [66], which can be marketed as a 40-60% ammonium sulfate solution [64] or as pure crystals of (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 [92].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circularity of Bioenergy Residues: Acidification of Anaerobic Digestate Prior to Addition of Wood Ash

et al. 2022

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The present study investigated the acidification treatment of an agrowaste digestate and a food waste digestate, which is necessary before the addition of the wood ashes to attain the pH of zero point of charge in the blend intended to behave as a slow-release fertilizer. The 336-h acidification treatments of the 2.39 ± 0.35 g of digestates were performed with high and low doses of four commercial acids (sulfuric, hydrochloric, nitric, and lactic acids) in 50-mL capped Corning® tubes. For analytical purposes, after the incubation, ultrapure milli-Q® water was added at a rate of 10 mL for each gram of digestate to create a water-soluble phase that allowed the measurement of the pH and the electric conductivity. The results showed that the optimum dose and type of acid were very dependent on the nature of the anaerobic digestate. The maximum buffer capacity of the agrowaste digestate was 0.07 mmol H+-H2SO4/g, but this increased by adding the food waste digestate with a greater content of ammoniacal nitrogen. The agrowaste digestate with a greater content of undigested fiber was more easily oxidized by nitric acid. On the other hand, sulfuric acid oxidized the food waste digestate to a greater extent than the other acids did. Since a high dose of acid was required to achieve a greater efficiency in the solid–liquid separation, which would ease any subsequent handling of the digestates, hydrochloric acid was considered to be the most suitable acid. Lactic acid promoted the growth of filamentous microbes in the agrowaste digestate and microbial colonies in the food waste digestate, which is an indication of the poor preservation of the organic matter under these conditions.

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“…This macronutrient has a relatively high total concentration in fly ash. Many studies have suggested that P in fly ash may not be available to plants [60]. Phosphorus is largely fixed with Fe and Al; this conglomerate is generally unavailable to plants [61].…”

Section: P K Mgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Fly Ash on Soil Properties and Vegetation of Fresh Coniferous Forest during Long-Term Observation

Bogacz,

Kasowska,

Telega

et al. 2024

Forests

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Fly ashes produced in huge amounts during coal combustion requires proper management. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of fly ash from burning hard coal used in large doses (250, 500, 1000 and 2000 t ha−1) on soil properties and vegetation of fresh mixed coniferous forest within 43 years from the ash application. The experiment was established in the Podzols in the forest habitat of Czułów, Katowice Forest district, Upper Silesia, Poland. Eight tree species were planted in ridges created by ploughing: Pinus sylvestris, P. nigra, Larix decidua, Betula pendula, Quercus robur, Q., Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica. The changes in soil morphology caused significant transformations in the physical and chemical properties of the soil such as soil texture, pH, macronutrients (P, K and Mg) content and C:N ratio. Increasing of ash doses changed the granulometric composition of the soil levels from loamy sand (250 t/ha−1) to silt loam (2000 t ha−1). Initially, the acidic Podzols were alkalized under the influence of the fly ash and then acidified, possibly due to the impact of accumulated litter layers, and the reaction of organic soil horizons changed from strongly acidic (250–1000 t ha−1) to alkalis (2000 t/ha−1). The macronutrients content increased in proportion to the fly ash dose, but the subsequent acidification resulted in a gradual decrease in the macronutrients share in the soil layers. The value of the C:N ratio grew after the ash application and then it gradually reduced, even by half. The transformations of soil horizons’ properties also increased the capacity of the soil sorption complex (CEC). All these processes led to a change in the trophic status of the habitat expressed by the soil habitat index (SIG) and the initial coniferous forest site can be classified as a mixed forest habitat even with the lowest ash dose used. The composition of plant communities developed forty years after the ash application was similar at the lower ash doses and the most frequent and abundant tree species were L. decidua, P. nigra and P. silvestris. B. pendula was previously co-dominant, but it was eliminated from the tree stands during the experiment. Planted trees characteristic of late stages of succession, such as Q. robur, Q. rubra, F. sylvatica and A. pseudoplatanus either did not survive or remained in very low quantities. The herb and moss layers developed in the process of spontaneous colonization, and together with the trees led to phytostabilisation of the bare substrates. After acidification of the topsoil horizons, the herb layers consisted mostly of coniferous, mixed, and deciduous forest species, and the most frequent or abundant were Lysimachia europea and Pteridium aquilinum. The moss layers were represented by coniferous forest flora. At the ash dose of 2000 t ha−1, Tilia cordata settled in one of the seral stages of spontaneous succession and this species dominated in the community and formed a dense tree stand. After the soil acidification, a shift from calcicole to calcifuge plant strategy took place among species of the herbaceous layer. The transformations of plant communities’ composition occurred in relation to changes in the soil properties.

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Alkaline Wood Ash, Turbulence, and Traps with Excess of Sulfuric Acid Do Not Strip Completely the Ammonia off an Agro-waste Digestate

Cited by 9 publications

References 22 publications

Developing a novel technology for slurry management by project-based learning

Developing a novel technology for slurry management by project-based learning

Circularity of Bioenergy Residues: Acidification of Anaerobic Digestate Prior to Addition of Wood Ash

Influence of Fly Ash on Soil Properties and Vegetation of Fresh Coniferous Forest during Long-Term Observation

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