Ammonia and urea are heavily depended upon for industry products such as fertilizer, diesel exhaust fluid, resin fabrication, and refrigerant gas. The current fabrication of ammonia and urea is energy intensive. However, urine provides a local, abundant source of nitrogen. Depending on the urine chemistry, urea or ammonia has the potential to be recovered to produce products that have economic benefit. High-pressure and low-pressure membrane processes such as reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), and forward osmosis (FO) are proficient technologies for separating compounds from water sources to produce clean water or concentrating waste streams. Yet, membranes are known to have a low rejection of low molecular weight neutral compounds such as urea and ammonia, which has made membrane use for urine treatment difficult. However, recent research has shown the ability of membranes to selectively separate nitrogen from the other compounds in urine by capitalizing on their low rejection of these low molecular weight neutral compounds. Therefore, this research compared the membrane processes of FO, NF, and RO for the selective separation of urea from fresh urine and ammonia from hydrolyzed urine.
This presentation is available to AMTA Members only.
Speaker
- Hannah Ray
Company
- Student at Arizona State University
Event
- AMTA Fellowship Recipient, Ian C. Watson Fellowship for Membrane Advancement
Session
- Ian C. Watson Fellowship for Membrane Advancement
Date
- 10/22/20
Media
Keywords
- Nitrogen, Urine
Reference
- 9705-DP2404