You are here:
SUSTAINABLE WASTEWATER TREATMENT: NUTRIENT UPCYCLING OF AMMONIA INTO FERTILIZER
Impact/Purpose:
We propose to build an electrodialysis cell to be incorporated into existing wastewater treatment facilities to remove and concentrate the ammonium cation (NH4+) from the wastewater stream and generate a high value commercial fertilizer, ammonia (NH3), from the recovered ammonium, by adding a chemical base. Our objective is to design this electrodialysis technology to be adaptable to different wastewater streams, encompassing large advanced treatment wastewater treatment plants down to on-farm manure digesters. Our overarching goal is to upcycle low grade wastewater by-products into high value fertilizer products, concentrating nutrients to be distributed and applied as needed for plant growth and keeping excess nitrogen out of surface waters and groundwater.
Description:
We intend to identify appropriate locations for treatment and feasibility of recovery for each of three types of wastewater treatment plants: municipal sewage treatment, manure digester, and cheese processing waste digester. We anticipate that a modular design for the electrodialysis unit would be able to be incorporated into wastewater treatment facilities of many varieties.
Although the plants we are investigating have methane-generated electrical power, the electrodialysis technology is inherently agnostic with regard to the source of the power and photovoltaic solar power could drive this technology where appropriate, as could wind turbines. Further, although we have considered here considered production of ammonia, which can be trapped by condensation and stored by refrigeration, alternatively ammonia can be trapped in a number of readily available acids to produce ammonium sulfate (sulfuric acid), ammonium nitrate (nitric acid), and mono- and di-ammonium phosphate (phosphoric acid), all well-known fertilizer materials.
UW-Madison capstones require a public presentation of findings in one format or another, and we anticipate that in addition to the P3 Expo in Washington, D.C., the entire team will make both a PowerPoint presentation at the UW-Madison campus and either an animated PowerPoint presentation or a YouTube-type video for general distribution as part of their course summary requirements.