Removal of ammonia From (Electroplating and Other) Wastewater?

A. The easiest way is to boil the solution until the ammonia has all gone up the exhaust stack. But some would certainly question the environmental wholesomeness of moving the problem from one media to another :-)

Q. We're aware of the boiling option, but when talking about thousands of liters, dilution is more economical and timely...any other options?

Mark Edwards [returning]
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2005

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Please tell us what other options you're already aware of, Mark, so we don't waste additional time suggesting things that you've already considered and dismissed :-)

Dilution is probably not a sound alternative environmentally, and is generally illegal here in the U.S., but it's hard to match the economy of simple dilution if it's legal where you are. Good luck!

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2005

A. The solution is ECP (Electrolytic Catalytic Precipitation). From 1000 ppm to 0 ppm in few hours, without chemicals, without dilution, only with electric power.

Trust me.

A. There's always alkaline stripping or break point chlorination.

A. Microorganisms can be used to convert ammonia to nitrate. A facility for doing this would likely be inexpensive to run, but would take up a lot of space.

You can also chlorinate for ammonia. To do this you would need a batch reactor fitted with an ORP/pH controller. Such a set-up could be quite compact, but the chemical costs could be substantial, especially if the waste contains other oxidizable substances. There's also the concern that toxic halogenated compounds could be generated, if the waste contains a lot of organic matter.

Lastly, there's an inorganic ion exchange material, clinoptilite, or "clino", that is selective for ammonia. This would not destroy the ammonia, but it could be used to adsorb and concentrate it. I've never used this material, so I'm not sure how it's used, exactly.

Q. It was suggested that microorganisms can be used to convert ammonia to nitrates. Could anyone suggest what such organisms might be and how the process would work? Thanks

Riaz Haque
hobbyist/ student - Chicago, Illinois
2007

A. Hello, Riaz. I don't think Dave Wichern was suggesting specialty microorganisms tailored to this problem, but was just suggesting that conventional trickling filters or activated sludge beds, commonly used in municipal wastewater treatment, could be employed for this industrial wastewater treatment application.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. ammonia from metal wastes can efficiently removed by using microorganisms as said by Dave.

Umanath Rayar
- Chennai , Tamil Nadu, India
November 4, 2009

A. Look at the MicrobeLift products for Bioremediation of the wastewater. Blueplanetcorp.com has a whole of case studies for this.

This is the bacterial additives you were inquiring about.

Gavin King
bioremediation - Cape Town, South Africa
March 31, 2010

Q. Hello,
I am not clear why ammonia is a problem in waste water treatment. Can it not kill the pathogens in waste water? I understand it has to be removed eventually but that's a separate issue.
Thanks and regards,
Aswin.

A. Hi, Aswin. It may depend on what field you are speaking of, Aswin. In electroplating and metal finishing, ammonia is a complexing agent which can prevent us from reaching the effluent standards for copper and other metals.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
February 2, 2009

Wastewater from a Bear Sanctuary

Q. We are treating waste water from our Bear Sanctuary and have high readings of ammonia. We want to remove these before we re-use the water for bear swimming pools.
We are thinking of using the cation exchange resin. What is your opinion? Do you think it will work and are there any side-effects? Thanks.

A. Hi, Robert. My expertise is in wastewater treatment for electroplating rather than bear sanctuaries, so I can't help with confidence. But I'd guess that the source of the ammonia is bear urine and that it needs treatment rather than being run back into the swimming pools. I would think that biological treatment would be applicable.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
February 11, 2009

A. I have found your forum very interesting.
I would suggest to the bear park issue to employ the use of Zeolite Pellets. You can purchase a standard swimming pool sand filter, but use the zeolite pellets instead of the sand. Zeolite absorbs about 1000 times it's own weight in ammonia. Then of course when you change the zeolite I would suggest an ammonia recovery company.

To the other gentlemen with industrial ammonia issues. Yes, The answer would be the Biological introduction of ammonia consuming bacteria into the effluent. There are two types, one works quickly and effectively in cold climates and the other in moderate to hot climates.

Very earth friendly, and accepted by most environmental groups, as the bacteria actually eats the ammonia, and has a great hunger for it. You will need very large amounts of ammonia to feed it. Google "AquaFix" And you will have your answers.
Thank You

Kevin Chapman
- Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
April 11, 2010

A. How about trying combined electro coagulation and electrochlorination...

A. There are systems that use vacuum distillation and pH control to remove the ammonia as a gas. The ammonia is then converted to some other usable component such as fertilizer. It is an enclosed system with no air emissions. Works best with high concentrations of ammonia (>500 ppm) and there is no upper limit on the ammonia concentration.

A. Ammonia removal is being focused on now in the wastewater treatment industry. Biological treatment consisting of manipulating Oxygen, pH and carbon sources in Activated sludge treatment yields good results in the span of 25-50 ppm; ammonia in flows of 20 to 200 MDG. typically in dewatering reject water with ammonia concentrations of 500 - 2500 ppm ammonia require more specialized processes. Biological treatments with modified activated sludge treatment called (BNR) Biological Nitrogen Removal, patented processes that abbreviate the BNR process, physical-chemical treatment (vacuum evaporative removal), and now catalytic cracking to produce electricity. Remember that molecular ammonia packs more Hydrogen than Methane! There is a ton of stuff out there. Happy Hunting.

A. Dear All

More than one solution can be considered but it depends on your demand for example,

Ammonia stripping can remove all ammonia as stripped gas to the atmosphere, based on the regulation in each country you can decide to go with ammonia stripping or not.

Other types of ammonia stripping can remove all ammonia and convert it into ammonium sulphate. The problem is there is still another liquid formed containing ammonium sulphate that still needs to be treated.

Other types of strippers can burn the ammonia in a separate absorber and the final product is air-free ammonia.

Biological treatment is the best solution but if further treatments are present like RO it is not recommended to do so since BOD/COD levels will increase in wastewater stream.

Iff water water already contains organic compounds and one of the goals is to remove organics biological treatment is the best for both carbon removal (BOD/COD) and nitrogen oxidation into nitrate. The process name is nitrification.

We have to take care of what is really needed since in biological treatment you nitrogen will be present but in another form after nitrification (nitrate), if the goal is only ammonia removal it will be achieved, but if the goal is to remove nitrogen another step called DE-NITRIFICATION should be considered prior to nitrification step with recycling water between both steps.

Ion exchange can be used but it will deal with ammonium ion as cationic radical in wastewater stream but during regeneration a liquefied full of ammonia will be generated that needs to be also treated.

In one study ammonia limit required was 1 ppm meanwhile inlet ammonia level was 500 ppm.

Ion exchange was not the solution since regeneration water was a problem and the main objective was "AMMONIA TO VANISH". It was not accepted anywhere even drain lines or any spillage might happen.

The solution was catalytic ammonia stripper.

Mageed

A. Dear Mr. Sorathiya Bipin,

This is specifically for CPC - Blue plant.
Generated acidic water contains (NH4)2SO4 and some part of urea which is responsible for ammoniacal nitrogen in the effluent. We will isolate this acidic effluent stream which contains ammoniacal nitrogen, and use this to scrub the gases (which contain ammonia and carbon dioxide)in CPC plant specifically. This acidic filtrate will absorb ammonia and convert it to ammonium sulphate. As the pH of this filtrate goes from 2 pH towards 7 pH, we will add more sulfuric acid for faster reaction.
This will resulted in about 20% ammonium sulphate solution which we will recover as byproduct by concentrating through multiple effect evaporators (MEE). There by the effluent stream containing ammoniacal nitrogen will be dealt separately and will not go to your effluent treatment plant.
Generated Ammonium Sulphate can be sold to actual users.

Hi Emily. Thanks for visiting finishing.com!

Instead of asking for applicability or clarification of the 42 postings preceding yours, you're starting over, and it's easy for people to assume that you're a student asking others to do your homework essay assignment for you :-)

So please take a few paragraphs for a clear exposition of your situation, and why the first suggestion of boiling doesn't sound applicable to you. Thanks!

Regards,

A. What are the constraints on your discharge? Need you remove ammonia, nitrate, or both?

You might consider some sort of biological treatment. There are ways of getting rid of NH3, but to the best of my knowledge, there are no good chemical methods for nitrate removal.

A. Ammonia can be air stripped if the pH is high, > 10. Small concentrations can also be removed using clinoptilolite for ion exchange. Biological treatment is an alternative possibility for ammonia removal.