Patent Application
20150132210
This invention relates to a system and method for the removal of gaseous nitrogen and its conversion to non-volatile nitrogen-containing compounds to reduce emissions from systems that produce gaseous nitrogen.
One of the largest environmental concerns associated with raising poultry for production in confined enclosures is the accumulation of ammonia gas (NH3). Volatilization of NH3 inside poultry housing often results in an excessive accumulation of NH3 in the air, which can negatively affect the health of both workers and birds (Kirychuk et al., Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 48 (7):741-748, 2006; Ritz et al., Journal of Applied Poultry Research 13:684-692, 2004; Rylander and Carvalheiro, International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 79 (6):487-490, 2006).
Numerous studies have shown the detrimental effect of high levels of NH3 on bird productivity (Dawkins et al., Nature 427 (6972):342-344, 2004; Ritz et al., supra; Wathes et al., Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers 45 (5):1605-1610, 2002; Yahav, Animal Research 53:289-293, 2004). Although increased ventilation can lower the NH3 in poultry houses to safe levels, it is expensive due to energy costs during winter months (Moore et al., 1995, Journal of Environmental Quality, Volume 24, 293-300). Since NH3 cannot be effectively contained within the house structure, NH3 emissions may contribute to air pollution, atmospheric deposition, and health concerns for near-by residents (Nahm, 2003, World's Poultry Science Journal, Volume 59, 77-88; Wheeler et al., 2006, Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Volume 49(5), 1495-1512; Williams et al., 1999, Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Volume 162, 105-157; Wing and Wolf, 2000, Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 108(3), 233-238).
Ammonia levels as low as 20 ppm have been found to compromise the immune and respiratory systems of chickens, making them more susceptible to disease. High levels of ammonia also negatively affect their feed conversion and weight gain. As a result of all these negative impacts on performance, recommended ammonia concentrations in poultry barns should be well below 25 ppm.
High levels of ammonia may also pose a risk to the health of agricultural workers in chicken rearing facilities; exposure to ammonia can irritate the respiratory tract and eyes, even at low levels. Therefore, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) permissible worker exposure limit for ammonia is 50 ppm over an 8-hour period and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has established a short-term (15-min) exposure limit of 35 ppm.
Current NH3 abatement technologies used in livestock houses rely on the ventilation systems and treatment of the exhaust air after leaving the house to remove nitrogen. Typically such systems are large requiring a lot of power that allows for an exchange range from 275 to 451 cubic feet of air per second depending on ambient temperatures (colder and warmer, respectively), assuming an average weight per broiler of 1.3 kg and 20000 broilers per house (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Design of Ventilation Systems for Poultry and Livestock Shelters, ASABE Standard Practices, ASAE EP270.5 December 1986 (R2008), 1986). Such massive ventilation allows for the dilution of indoor ammonia levels and it does increase the removal amounts of ammonia from poultry facilities. However, ammonia releases from such facilities in this manner to the atmosphere is expensive in the colder months and throughout the year can cause environmental problems, such as acid precipitation, fine particulate matter formation (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than ten microns in size), and nitrogen deposition into aquatic systems. The accumulated effects of ventilation contribute to a reduction in the quality of life and raise health concerns for near-by residents.
A second strategy includes treating the NH3 in the exhaust air from enclosures using scrubbing or filtration techniques, thus preventing NH3 release into the environment. This technique consists of forcing the ventilated air through an NH3 trap, such as an acidic solution (scrubbers), or through a porous filter with nitrifying biofilms that oxidize NH3 to nitrate (biotrickling or organic filters) (Chen et al., Chemosphere 58 (8):1023-1030, 2005; Melse and Ogink, Transactions of the ASAE 48 (6):2303-2313, 2005; Ndegwa et al., Biosystems Engineering 100:453-469, 2008; Pagans et al., Chemical Engineering Journal 113 (2-3):105-110, 2005). The process is costly in winter months when it is necessary to heat enclosures to maintain production. In addition, recent research has shown that NH3 concentrations close to the litter surface (<20 cm), where the birds are exposed, can be up to one order of magnitude higher than in the bulk house air.
The third technology is to selectively pull and treat the air near the litter surface, where NH3 levels are more concentrated, using dedicated ventilation systems independent of the house ventilation system (Lahav et al., Water Air Soil Pollution, Volume 191, 183-197, 2008). A significant departure from the methods described above is the concept of removing NH3 using manifolds that extract only the air close to the litter independent of the house ventilation system. These systems require redundancy, additional positive air extraction equipment and are thus not cost effective.
A fourth form of abatement is to add chemical amendments directly to the poultry litter to prevent NH3 volatization, without the need of additional ventilation to move NH3. These amendments act by either inhibiting microbial transformation of urea or uric acid into NH3 or by acidifying and neutralizing it. Several chemical amendments have been widely used for their ability to control or reduce NH3 release from poultry litter and manure, such as AL2(SO4)3.14H2O (Al+Clear®), NaHSO4 (PLT®), and acidified clays (Poultry Guard®) (Cook et al., Journal of Environmental Quality 37:2360-2367, 2008; Moore et al., 1995, supra; Moore et al., Journal of Environmental Quality 29:37-49, 2000; Shah et al., Poultry litter amendments, edited by N. C. C. E. Service. Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina State University, 2006). Although N is conserved unvolatilized in the poultry litter, NH3 is not recovered as a separate product as with the scrubbing techniques. Recovery of NH3 is a desirable feature because it can be exported off the farm, solving problems of N surpluses in concentrated poultry production regions.
Conservation and recovery of nitrogen (N) is also important in agriculture because of the high cost of producing and acquiring commercial NH3 fertilizers. Thus, there is a desire to improve technologies for abating NH3 emissions from confined poultry operations by capturing and recovering nitrogen.
While various systems have been developed for removing NH3 from animal litter, there still remains a need in the art for different abatement systems that removes NH3 from gaseous nitrogen producing systems and recovers the N in a concentrated purified form, but is not dependent on intense air movement. The present invention, different from prior art systems, provides such systems using hydrophobic gas-permeable membranes and circulated acidic solutions to produce concentrated ammonium salt.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system for at least reducing levels of NH3 in an enclosed area and recovering N in a purified concentrated form.
Another object of the present invention is to at least reduce the level of NH3 in an enclosure using systems that do not require large capacity airflow handling systems.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system for at least reducing the levels of NH3 in an enclosed space using systems that capture NH3 in a circulated acidic solution with the concomitant production of a concentrated ammonium salt.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system for at least reducing the levels of NH3 in an enclosed area using systems that remove NH3 through the use of microporous, hydrophobic, gas-permeable membranes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for at least reducing the levels of NH3 in an enclosed area using systems that remove NH3 through the use of microporous, hydrophobic gas-permeable membranes and chemical amendment of animal litter used in the enclosed space.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system for at least reducing the levels of NH3 in an enclosed space containing animal litter wherein in said litter includes a chemical which enhances NH3 release from the litter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for at least reducing the levels of NH3 in a composting system and recovering N in a purified concentrated form.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for at least reducing NH3 in an enclosed space using a system that does not require large capacity airflow handling systems.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method for at least reducing NH3 in an enclosed space using a system that captures NH3 in a circulated acidic solution with the concomitant production of a concentrated ammonium salt.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method for at least reducing NH3 in an enclosed space using a system having microporous, hydrophobic, gas-permeable membranes.
Another object of the present invention is a method for at least reducing NH3 in an enclosed space using a system having microporous, hydrophobic gas-permeable membranes and a chemical amendment of an animal litter used in the enclosed space wherein said amendment increases the release of NH3 from the litter.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method for at least reducing NH3 in a composting system using a system having microporous, hydrophobic gas-permeable membranes.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.
The present invention recovers N in a concentrated purified form, but is not dependent on intense air movement. The invention is an ammonia gas capture system 20 that includes the passage of NH3 through a membrane assembly 15 that includes at least one microporous hydrophobic gas-permeable membrane 8 and the capture of NH3 in a circulated acid solution 3 with concomitant production of a concentrated ammonium salt. Once NH3 is in contact with the acid solution 3 it reacts with free protons (H+) to form non-volatile ammonium (NH4+) salt, which is retained and concentrated in the acid solution 3 (
Modern animal production is an extremely sophisticated business and the management, treatment, purification, and appreciation of its by-products should also be so. As the practice of intensive production in enclosed areas, such as for example, stables, barns, poultry houses, pen facilities, etc., grows there is an increasingly urgent need for effective and affordable alternatives for management of nutrient by-products.
The removal and recovery of NH3 is a desirable feature because it can be exported off the farm which solves the problems of nitrogen surpluses in concentrated farm animal production regions. The present invention uses gas-permeable membranes that are placed inside an enclosure housing farm animals for production to recover nitrogen in a concentrated purified form and is not dependent on intense air flow. According to ASABE standards, required ventilation ranges from 275 to 451 cubic feet of air per second depending on ambient temperatures (colder and warmer, respectively), assuming an average weight per broiler of 1.3 kg and 20,000 broilers per house (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Design of Ventilation Systems for Poultry and Livestock Shelters, ASABE Standard Practices, ASAE EP270.5 December 1986 (R2008), 1986). As shown in
Hydrophobic, gas-permeable membrane 8 includes, for example, polypropylene (Shindo et al., Gas transfer process with hollow fiber membrane. Japan: Mitsubishi Rayon, Co., Ltd., 1981), polyethylene/polyurethane composites (Lee and Rittmann, Water Science Technology 41:219-226, 2000), or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (Blet et al, Analytica Chimica Acta, Volume 219, 309-311, 1989). Membrane 8 can be tubular or flat as shown in
For purposes of the present invention the term litter is defined as any material put on the bottom surface of an enclosed space that can be bedding for an animal, for example and/or contains waste products including urine, feces and possibly undigested nitrogen-containing feed.
For purposes of the present invention, the term enclosure is defined as any structure having an area that has been enclosed such as for example, stables, barns, poultry houses, animal pens, composting bins, anaerobic disgesters, etc.
Furthermore, for purposes of the present invention, ammonia capture system 20 can be used to capture ammonia from composting. For purposes of the present invention, the term composting is defined as any bioxidative process involving the mineralization and partial humification of organic matter leading to stabilized usable substances called compost. During the composting process the simple organic compounds are mineralized and metabolized by the microorganisms producing CO2, NH3, H2O, organic acids, and heat
The membrane assembly 15 including membrane 8 functions as a passive getter for ammonia gas and as the gas is captured, production of more gas from non-volatile NH4 occurs until all or substantially all of the NH4 is converted to NH3
The membrane 8 itself is a tubular or flat microporous, hydrophobic, gas-permeable membrane 8 having membrane pores 9. The tubular membrane 8 is defined as an endless circumferential material having an outer surface 8A and an inner surface 8B (see
Hollow, tubular, gas-permeable membranes typically have wall thickness ranging from 0.1-2.0 mm, inner diameter ranging from 0.3-100 mm, bubble point ranging from 3-300 kPa, and porosity ranging from 40-80%. The tubular membranes can be assembled in modules with several tubings parallel to each other and a common intake and outtake. Flat, gas-permeable membranes are typically defined by their membrane thickness (ranging from 0.001-0.2 mm), bubble point (ranging from 3-300 kPa), and porosity (ranging from 40-80%). Flat membrane surface area was equivalent to approximately 11 to 14% of the enclosure surface area in both the bench-scale and field-scale experiments.
The closed loop delivery system for delivering acid from acid tank/reservoir 1, in
For purposes of the present invention, the term acid tank/reservoir is defined as any size, nonreactive container for the storage of acid used in the present invention.
As shown in
Gaseous nitrogen producing can be treated by the addition of chemicals which enhance the volatilization of NH3 from the litter. An example is an alkali chemical that converts NH4—N to NH3 according to ammonium-ammonia reaction: NH4+→NH3↑+H+. Using calcium hydroxide (i.e. lime) as an example, the following equation defines the reaction: Ca(OH)2+2NH4+→2NH3↑+Ca2++2H20. Any chemical which will increase the volatilization of NH3 from the litter can be used in the practice of this invention, such as calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide (and mixtures thereof), dolomitic lime, sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide. The amount of alkali to apply depends on the degree of ammonia removal desired (see
The following examples are intended only to further illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims. Poultry litter is used as a model to exemplify the system of the present invention. The system can be used for any enclosed space where NH3 is produced and accumulated.
This example includes four experiments for the process configuration wherein an acid solution is contained in an acid tank and was continuously re-circulated into a chamber containing poultry litter (See
Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE)(Phillips Scientific Inc., Rock Hill, S.C.) was used in the interior of the chamber for NH3 capture. The length of the tubing used in all experiments was approximately 66 cm. Characteristics of the ePTFE tubing and scanning electron micrographs for each of the three types of ePTFE tubing used in these studies are shown in Table 1 and
Four experiments were performed to test the feasibility of using ePTFE tubular membranes in conjunction with an acidic solution to capture and recover NH3. The first experiment determined the general application using three ePTFE membranes with different physical characteristics. The second experiment determined if NH3 recovery could be enhanced with different placements of the membranes with respect to the litter surface. The third experiment determined the maximum capture capacity of the membranes by addition of excess urea to the poultry litter. The fourth experiment evaluated if the release of NH3 from the litter could be recovered quickly through the use of hydrated lime treatments in combination with the use of membrane technology.
In all experiments, approximately 300 mL of 1 N H2SO4 was circulated at a flow rate of approximately 70-80 mL per day. Duplicate experiments were run for a total of 21 days. Acid solution was sampled daily and headspace air (approximately 15-20 volumes) was sampled weekly. The pH of the acidic solution was monitored using pHydrion Insta-Chek 0-13 litmus paper (Micro Essential Laboratory, Brooklyn, N.Y.). For the air sampling, headspace air was evacuated from the chamber and the NH3 was trapped in 1N H2SO4 via glass impingers according to Poach et al. (Journal of Environmental Quality, Volume 33, 844-851, 2004). After headspace evacuation, lids were removed, the litter was mixed using gloves, and a representative grab sample (about 12-15 grams) was taken prior to resealing the lid. Liquid samples were capped and stored at about 4 degrees C. and litter samples were stored at about −20 degrees C. until analysis. Duplicate control chambers were set up containing litter but no ePTFE tubing and sampled weekly to determine headspace NH3 and litter characteristics without an NH3 removal system. In addition, a 500-mL Erlenmeyer flask was set up as an acid tank control (not connected to any chamber) that was sampled at the same time as the other acid solution samples.
The bedding material that constituted the base of the broiler litter in all experiments was wood chips. Broiler litter used for the experiments was collected from a 25,000 bird broiler house in Lee County, South Carolina. At the time of sampling, the house was empty and between the second and third flock (five flocks per year). Two large composite litter samples were taken in two transects along the center section of the house (between water lines), and placed in 160-L containers. The containers were sealed and transported to the laboratory. Approximately 15 gram portion of the litter was passed through a 5.8 mm sieve and placed in cold storage (about −65 degrees C.) prior to laboratory experiments. The properties of the litter can be seen in Table 2 below. The starting weight of poultry litter was approximately 200 grams for each chamber, and all experiments were performed at ambient pressure and temperature room conditions.
[a]Mean for triplicate litter samples (n = 3)
[b]Percent of total mass as measured after drying for 24 hours at 105° C.
[c]Percent of Total Solids, as measured after ashing at 550° C. for 30 mins.
[d]Dry weight basis
All liquid samples were analyzed for NH4—N according to Standard Method 4500-NH3 G (APHA, 1998). Total Kjeldahl N (TKN) in solid samples was determined in digestion extracts using H2SO4 (Gallaher et al., Soil Science Society of American, Volume 4, 887-8891976). The NH4—N and NO3—N were extracted from the litter using a 60:1 2M KCl:litter mixture that was shaken (about 200 rpm) for about 30 minutes followed by gravity filtration through Whatman filter paper, size 42 (Whatman International Ltd., Maidstone, England) (Peters et al., Ammonium Nitrogen, P. 25-29, In. J. Peters (ed.) Recommended Methods of Manure Analysis. University of Wisconsin Extension, Madison, Wis., 2003). All NH4—N, NO3—N, and TKN analyses in solid samples were determined by colorimetry using the AutoAnalyzer II (Technicon, 1977; Technicon Instruments Corp., Tarrytown, N.Y.). Elemental analysis for total C and N was done by dry combustion (Leco Corp., St. Joseph, Mich.). All litter analyses were reported on a dry weight basis. Moisture content of the poultry litter was determined by oven drying the litter at about 105 degrees C. to constant weight. The dried sample was ignited in a muffle furnace at about 550 degrees C. for about 30 minutes to determine volatile solids (VS). Litter pH was measured electronically using a combination pH electrode at a 5:1 deionized water:litter ratio. Data were statistically analyzed by means and standard errors (proc MEANS), linear regression (proc REG), and analysis of variance (proc ANOVA), and least significant difference at a 0.05 probability level (LSD0.05) for multiple comparisons among means with SAS version 9.2 (SAS, 2008).
The first experiment was designed to determine the general feasibility of using ePTFE tubular membranes on the recovery of NH3 released from poultry litter. Three different ePTFE tubings were tested (Table 1 and
The membrane system recovered about 96% of the NH3 lost from the litter during the 21 day evaluation (
aMembrane surface to volume ratio.
[b] Total NH4—N measured in the acid trap after 21 days incubation
[c]Mean (standard error of mean) for duplicate samples (n = 2).
[d]Total NH4—N in the litter at the end of experiment calculated by subtracting NH4—N content on day 21 from initial NH4—N content on day 0.
[e] Least significant difference
The second experiment was designed to determine if placement of the ePTFE tubing with respect to the litter surface had an effect on NH3 recovery. Type B ePTFE tubing (Table 1) was used for this experiment. The tubing was placed inside the chamber in the following three positions (
The relative position of the tubular membranes (above, on, or under the litter) did not significantly affect the total mass of NH3 recovery by the system (
[a]Mean (standard error of the mean) of duplicate 2M KCl extractions of litter from the three treatments in experiment 2 (n = 3)
[b]Calculated by subtracting mass of NH4—N at that sampling time from initial mass of NH4—N in the litter
Current NH3 abatement technologies used in livestock houses rely on the ventilation systems and N treatment of the exhaust air after leaving the house (Melse and Ogink, Transactions of the ASAE, Volume 48(6), 2302-2313, 2005; Ndegwa et al., Biosystems Engineering, Volume 100, 453-469, 2008), but recent research has shown that NH3 concentrations close to the litter surface (<20 cm), where the birds are exposed, can be up to one order of magnitude higher than in the bulk house air (Lahav et al., 2008, supra). A significant departure is the concept of Lahav et al., 2008 of removing NH3 using manifolds that extract only the air close to the litter independent of the house ventilation system. The present invention, using a membrane system, follows the same concept, in that the NH3 can be recovered near the litter with potential benefits to bird health and improved productivity, with the additional advantage that NH3 is passively removed.
The third experiment tested the capacity of the membranes to trap NH3 by biologically enhancing the release of NH3. To achieve this, organic nitrogen (approximately 10 grams of urea containing approximately 4.6 grams of nitrogen) was added to a chamber containing litter at the beginning of the experiment, resulting in a urea concentration of approximately 5% (w/w). This accounts for about twice the normal input of nitrogen for an entire grow-out, in an average house (Nabor and Bermudez, Poultry manure management and utilization problems and opportunities. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, 1990). The added urea acted as a substrate to microbiologically enhance NH3 production and volatilization from the litter. For comparison, a chamber with litter and 0% urea addition was used as a control treatment.
Excess urea (approximately 5% total mass) was added to the litter to determine how increased N input affected the NH4—N mass potentially recovered by the ePTFE system. The amount of urea added was equal to approximately twice the N input of an average broiler over a typical grow-out period (about 42-56 days), assuming approximately 930 cm2 (1 ft2) of litter surface area is occupied per broiler. The above calculations assume that, on a dry weight basis, an average broiler produces approximately 37.5 g of manure daily, of which approximately 0.75 g (approximately 2% of total mass) is in a nitrogenous form (Naber and Bermudez, 1990). Initially, the total N content of the litter in the approximately 5% urea treatment chamber was approximately 16.39±0.86 g, with the urea accounting for approximately 42.8% (approximately 7.02 g) of the total N. For comparison, the litter from the non-amended (0%) treatment litter contained approximately 7.33±0.31 g of total N.
The addition of urea to the litter increased the recovery of NH3 (approximately 2287.4±9.2 mg) as compared to the non-amended litter (approximately 293.9±26.6 mg). The corresponding rate of daily NH3 capture per unit ePTFE surface area was approximately 10.5 g m−2 d−1 for the enhanced urea treatment and approximately 1.3 g m−2 d−1 for the non-amended litter (
In addition to NH4—N reduction in the litter, the membrane treatment also reduced NH3 concentrations in the air. Measurements of NH3 concentrations in the headspace air of the laboratory chamber after 7 days showed approximately 1.2±0.1 mg L−1 NH3 in the membrane system and approximately 17.5±0.2 mg L−1 NH3 in the control chamber without membrane. This represents about a 93% reduction in the headspace NH3 concentrations in the membrane system.
The pH of the acidic solution in the 0% urea treatment was unchanged at day 21 compared to the beginning of the experiment, while the pH of the acidic solution from the approximately 5% urea treatment increased by about 2 pH units (from 0 to 2). This increase in pH indicates about a 99% reduction in the available protons (Lahav et al., Water Air Soil Pollution, Volume 191, 183-197, 2008) in the approximately 5% urea treatment after about 21 days as compared to the initial acidic solution and that the acidic solution would have needed to be recharged to recover additional NH3. Therefore, it is important to keep up with the continuous supply of protons in this type of system so that the acidity is not limiting effective NH3 recovery. Fortunately, we can use the pH of the acidic solution as an indication of acid recharge needs.
The fourth experiment determined if NH3 could be recovered quickly from the litter through the use of chemical treatment in combination with the use of membrane technology. To achieve this, amendments were added to the litter to chemically enhance NH3 production and volatilization through the addition of hydrated lime, Ca(OH)2 at four application rates of approximately 0%, 0.4%, 2%, and 4% w/v. Hydrated lime was mixed with the litter by vigorous shaking in a plastic bag and immediately placed in the chamber. Hydrated lime raised the pH of the litter (≧to 10 units) to convert available non-volatile NH4—N into volatile NH3—N. Hydrated lime has been historically used for disinfection and NH3 management of poultry litter (Shah et al., 2006, supra; Yushok and Bear, Poultry manure: Its preservation, deodorization, and disinfection. New Brunswick: New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, 1948).
Hydrated lime [Ca(OH)2] was applied to the litter at three rates of approximately 0.4%, 2%, and 4% w/v to increase the pH of the litter to rapidly transform NH4—N into NH3 gas and evaluate treatment time reduction compared to a control treatment (0% Ca(OH)2 addition) (
The increased NH3 volatilization due to chemical addition significantly affected NH3 recovery by the membrane system (
The rapid flush of NH3 by chemical addition exceeded the capacity of the membrane used in the bench-scale chamber, resulting in lower NH3 recoveries after seven days between approximately 68%-76% (Table 5). For example, the membrane capacity in the approximately 4% w/v lime treatments in the first two days was approximately 180 mg d−1 (
[a]Percent total mass of litter at the beginning of the experiment
[b]Calculated by subtracting mass of NH4—N at day 7 from initial mass of NH4—N in the litter
[c]Mean (standard error of the mean) of duplicate 2M KCl extractions of litter
[d]Least significant difference.
The use of a membrane system resulted in consistent decreases in headspace NH3 concentrations for all four treatments as compared to the controls without membranes (Table 5, Columns 5, 6). NH3 concentrations in the air were significantly (p<0.0001) reduced from approximately 8.8-34.0 mg L−1 to approximately 0.2-0.0 mg L−1 (approximately 97.7%-100% reduction).
An additional benefit of the use of hydrated lime is the disinfection of the poultry house. Lime has been shown to effectively destroy or inactivate bacterial and viral pathogens in poultry production facilities, including Salmonella enteritidis (Bennett et al., Effect of lime on Salmonella enteritidis survival in vitro. Journal of Applied Poultry Research 12:65-68, 2003) and H5N1 virus (causative agent of Avian Influenza; De Benedistis et al., Zoonoses Public Health 54:51-68, 2007). Therefore, producers choosing to disinfect their houses using lime could benefit from this membrane system by recovering the NH3 rapidly released from the litter upon lime application.
Flat, microporous, hydrophobic, gas-permeable membranes 8 (
A field-scale prototype was used to further illustrate the ability of a microporous hydrophobic, gas-permeable, membrane system 15 using flat membranes to recover ammonia (NH3) from NH3 emitting source 6, i.e., poultry litter, m (
a32.5 kg litter in a 2.51 m3 enclosure
bDays of experiment: 0% = 8.76 days; 2% = 12.73 days
cMeasured using 2M KCl extraction method and colorimetry using an autoanalyzer (Peters et al., Ammonium nitrogen, p. 25-29, In J. Peters, ed. Recommended Methods of Manure Analysis. University of Wisconsin extension, Madison, WI., 2003)
dPeak gaseous NH3 concentration in air: 0% = 915 ppmv; 2% = >2000 ppmv
eNH3 Lost from Litter = Initial Litter NH3 − Final Litter NH3
fNH3 Recovery = (NH3 Recovered in Acid/NH3 Lost from Litter) * 100
gBased on 0.4876 m2 of flat membrane surface area per prototype
It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the examples discussed above, but that various changes and modifications thereof are possible without departing from the scope Index of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/314,683, filed Mar. 17, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61314683 | Mar 2010 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13048375 | Mar 2011 | US |
| Child | 14528614 | US |
