Sewage sludge, ammonia

BEAUCHAMP, E G., KIDD, G E and THURTELL, G. (1978). Ammonia volatilisation from sewage sludge applied in the field. J Env Qual, 7, 141-146. 

Fig. 8.3 Ammonia-N volatilization as a function of time from sewage sludge applied to soils at 0, 0.01, and 1.5 MPa, and air-dry initial moisture levels (Donovan and Logan 1983)...

Sewage Sludge Strain. The sludge strain PS of M. ruminantium is similar nutritionally to the rumen strain but is less exacting in its requirements and can be grown easily in a chemically defined medium—i.e., the medium shown in Table II but with 3.8 mM (NH4)2S04 added and with rumen fiuid and volatile acids other than acetate deleted. This strain does not require 2-methylbutyric acid, amino acids, or the unidentified factor required by the rumen strain. In fact, it biosynthesizes this growth factor. However, it does require acetate and ammonia. 

Sewage sludge was pre-treated for 1 h at 150°C under 10 atm (17) after the pH was adjusted to 14 with NaOH. Ammonia in the gas phase was vented at 70-80°C after heat-treatment and 3-4 1 of sewage sludge was processed in a 7 1 reactor. 

The application of fertilizer to soil, as ammonia, ammonium compounds, or ammonia precursors (such as urea), is a well documented source of ammonia release to the atmosphere (ApSimon et al. 1987 Beyrouty et al. 1988 Buijsman et al. 1987 Kucey 1988 Olivier et al. 1998 Reynolds and Wolf 1988). The rate of ammonia emission from ground sources, such as freshly fertilized fields and cattle feedlots, is dependent on variables such as the pH, temperature, soil characteristics, rainfall, method of application, wind speed, etc. (Bouwmeester and Vlek 1981 Brunke et al. 1988 Denmead et al. 1982 Hoff et al. 1981 Kucey 1988 Nason et al. 1988 Reynolds and Wolf 1988). Ammonia can volatilize from sewage sludge that has been spread on the surface of the soil (Beauchamp et al. 1978 Ryan and Keeney 1975) as well as from poultry litter (Brinson et al. 1994). In the latter case, composted poultry litter released far less volatile NH3 to the atmosphere (0-0.24% of applied) than did fresh poultry litter (17-23%) (Brinson et al. 1994). In contrast, the crops themselves are often minor sources of atmospheric NH3. Harper and Sharpe (1995) demonstrated almost no net atmospheric NH3 flux in com crops, due to their relatively similar emission and uptake rates of NH3 over the growing season. 

The concentration of ammonia in the atmosphere decreases with altitude. Levine et al. (1980) found that an ammonia concentration of 10 ppb measured at ground level decreased to a concentration of 1.5-3 ppb at a height of 10 km. In a historical modeling study on the European production of ammonia, levels based on ammonia release from livestock (dominant), fertilizer production and application, human and domestic animals, and sewage sludge resulted in average atmospheric ammonia concentrations ranging from 0.6 to... 

The design data shown in Table 1 are to be used to design a crosscurrent ammonia-stripping tower. The wastewater to be treated is municipal sewage that has been treated by activated sludge followed by lime clarification. A 90% ammonia removal efficiency is desired. The packing is assumed to have the characteristics shown in Fig. 8. 

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