title: Development and evaluation of a full-scale spray scrubber for ammonia recovery and production of nitrogen fertilizer at poultry facilities.
abstract: Significant ammonia emissions from animal facilities need to be controlled due to its negative impacts on human health and the environment. The use of acid spray scrubber is promising, as it simultaneously mitigates and recovers ammonia emission for fertilizer. Its low pressure drop contribution on axial fans makes it applicable on US farms. This study develops a full-scale acid spray scrubber to recover ammonia emissions from commercial poultry facilities and produce nitrogen fertilizer. The scrubber performance and economic feasibility were evaluated at a commercial poultry manure composting facility that released ammonia from exhaust fans with concentrations of 66-278 ppmv and total emission rate of 96,143 kg yr(-1). The scrubber consisted of 15 spray scrubber modules, each equipped with three full-cone nozzles that used dilute sulphuric acid as the medium. Each nozzle was operated at 0.59 MPa with a droplet size of 113 μm and liquid flow rate of 1.8 L min(-1). The scrubber was installed with a 1.3-m exhaust fan and field tested in four seasons. Results showed that the scrubber achieved high NH3 removal efficiencies (71-81%) and low pressure drop (<25 Pa). Estimated water and acid losses are 0.9 and 0.04 ml m(-3) air treated, respectively. Power consumption rate was between 89.48 and 107.48 kWh d(-1). The scrubber effluents containing 22-36% (m/v) ammonium sulphate are comparable to the commercial-grade nitrogen fertilizer. Preliminary economic analysis indicated that the break-even time is one year. This study demonstrates that acid spray scrubbers can economically and effectively recover NH3 from animal facilities for fertilizer.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering , The Ohio State University , 590 Woody Hayes Dr., Columbus , OH , USA.
authors.forename: Lara Jane S
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Hadlocon
authors.forename: Roderick B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Manuzon
authors.forename: Lingying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000641:Ammonia / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000818:Animals; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis*; D008372:Manure / Q000032:analysis; D011200:Poultry
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005308:Fertilizers; D008372:Manure; D000641:Ammonia
keywords: acid spray scrubber; air pollution mitigation; ammonia emission; poultry manure composting facilities; production of nitrogen fertilizer