Classical Batch Distillation of Anaerobic Digestate to Isolate Ammonium Bicarbonate: Membrane Not Necessary!

The excessive mineralization of organic molecules during anaerobic fermentation increases the availability of nitrogen and carbon. For this reason, the development of downstream processing technologies is required to better manage ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions during the storage and land application of the resulting soil organic amendment. The present work investigated classical distillation as a technology for valorizing ammoniacal nitrogen (NH-N) in anaerobic digestate.

Isolation of ammonium bicarbonate by reactive distillation of food waste digestate liquor.

Distillation is among the best techniques for management of ammoniacal nitrogen in anaerobic digestate; however, the suitability of the conventional system is neglected in favor of using more advanced setups. This investigation proves the reliability of the classical batch distillation apparatus for high throughput separation of solid crystals of ammonium bicarbonate from food waste digestate (FWD) liquor. Three replicates were carried out: 80 g of FWD liquor with a content of 50 g/L NHHCO was processed for 7.

Dataset on the solid-liquid separation of anaerobic digestate by means of wood ash-based treatment.

Wood bottom and fly ashes were added to the anaerobic digestate using sulfuric, hydrochloric, nitric, and lactic acids, as pH conditioners and sorption activating agents. Minimum (pH of zero-point charge), mild, and severe acidification of the samples were tested. The solid-liquid separation achieved was accounted visually and with the measurement of the masses of water-soluble extract and water-insoluble material isolated.