title: Ammonia removal in food waste anaerobic digestion using a side-stream stripping process.
abstract: Three 35-L anaerobic digesters fed on source segregated food waste were coupled to side-stream ammonia stripping columns and operated semi-continuously over 300 days, with results in terms of performance and stability compared to those of a control digester without stripping. Biogas was used as the stripping medium, and the columns were operated under different conditions of temperature (55, 70, 85 °C), pH (unadjusted and pH 10), and RT (2-5 days). To reduce digester TAN concentrations to a useful level a high temperature (≥70 °C) and a pH of 10 were needed; under these conditions 48% of the TAN was removed over a 138-day period without any detrimental effects on digester performance. Other effects of the stripping process were an overall reduction in digestate organic nitrogen-containing fraction compared to the control and a recovery in the acetoclastic pathway when TAN concentration was 1770±20 mg kg(-1).
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK. Electronic address: A.Serna-Maza@soton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serna-Maza
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heaven
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Banks
mesh_terms: D000468:Alkalies / Q000032:analysis; D000641:Ammonia / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000032:analysis; D005502:Food; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D014835:Volatilization; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014866:Waste Products
chemical_list: D000468:Alkalies; D056804:Biofuels; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D014866:Waste Products; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Ammonia removal; Anaerobic digestion; Food waste; Side-stream stripping