Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #366473
Research Project: Improvement of Soil Management Practices and Manure Treatment/Handling Systems of the Southern Coastal Plain

Location: Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research

Title: Pilot-scale demonstration of membrane-based nitrogen recovery from swine manure

Author
item MOLINUEVO-SALCES, BEATRIZ - Institute Of Castilla - Spain
item RIANO, BERTA - Institute Of Castilla - Spain
item Vanotti, Matias
item HERNANDEZ-GONZALEZ, DAVID - Institute Of Castilla - Spain
item GARCIA-GONZALEZ, MARIA - Institute Of Castilla - Spain

Submitted to: Membranes
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/19/2020
Publication Date: 10/1/2020
Citation: Molinuevo-Salces, B., Riano, B., Vanotti, M.B., Hernandez-Gonzalez, D., Garcia-Gonzalez, M.C. 2020. Pilot-scale demonstration of membrane-based nitrogen recovery from swine manure. Membranes 2020. 10(10):270. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10100270.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10100270

Interpretive Summary: Gas-permeable membranes technology presents a high potential for nitrogen (N) recovery from waste waters rich in ammonia (NH3). Previous studies have been carried out at laboratory scale. The goal of this study was to report the results of an on-farm pilot-scale demonstration using gas-permeable membranes that recovered N from unprocessed swine manure. The demonstration was done in a swine farm in Castilla and Leon region, Spain as part of an European Union (EU) LIFE project Ammonia Trapping to transfer knowledge from the lab-scale level to on-farm pilot-scale level. After set-up optimization of the pilot-scale plant, stable and continuous operation was achieved. Besides its contribution to reduction of NH3 emissions, this technology contributes to the recovery of nutrients in the form of a concentrated stable ammonium solution that can be used for fertigation. The ammonium concentration in the product was 11 times higher than in manure. Therefore, the gas-permeable membrane technology has the capacity for concentrating ammonia from manure with diverse benefits for the farmers: 1) more control over nutrient application is possible, which avoid risks of N runoff or leaching, 2) reducing transportation costs of manure application, 3) exporting the stable N solution off the farm creating an additional income for the farmer, and 4) it would permit agricultural development to continue to increase while preserving the environment and the health of those living near livestock operations, thus improving general public relations.

Technical Abstract: Gas-permeable membranes technology presents a high potential for nitrogen (N) recovery from wastewaters rich in ammonia (NH3). The EU project Ammonia Trapping (AT) is aimed at transferring knowledge from the lab-scale level to on-farm pilot-scale level, using this technology to recover NH3 from livestock wastewaters. The goal of this study is to report the results of an on-farm pilot-scale demonstration plant using gas-permeable membranes to recover N from raw swine manure. After a set-up optimization of the plant, stable and continuous operation was achieved. Maximum NH3 recovery rate obtained was 38.20 grams NH3-N square meter of membrane per day. This recovery rate was greatly affected by the temperature of the process. Besides its contribution to NH3 emissions reduction, this technology contributes to the recovery of nutrients in the form of a concentrated stable ammonium sulfate solution. This solution contained 3.2% of N, which makes it suitable for fertigation. The economic approach revealed an economic feasibility of the technology, resulting in a cost of 2.07 € per kg N recovered.