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Generation and Emission of Ammonia During the Full-Scale Composting of Sewage Sludge

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Abstract

The generation and emission of ammonia (NH3) were studied using a continuous monitoring system in an established sewage sludge treatment plant. Results showed that NH3 generation within the pile differed from the emissions at the pile surface during composting. The maximum NH3 concentration reached 600 mg m−3 inside the composting pile and 200 mg m−3 in the outlet gas. The mass of N determined in NH3 generations was 9.97 g kg DM−1, which was 2.57 times higher than the mass of N in NH3 emissions. The highest NH3 generation and emission masses in one aeration cycle occurred during the mesophilic (10.19 mg kg−1) and early thermophilic (6.91 mg kg−1) phases. The relationship between NH3 generation rates and time during one aeration cycle and different composting phases could be expressed as a logarithmic equation, and the relationship between NH3 emission rate and time could be expressed as a quadratic equation.

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Acknowledgements

The project was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFD0800603).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Energy and Environmental Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Engineering Planning & Design, No. 41, Maizidian Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100125, China

    Yujun Shen, Haibin Zhou & Haibo Meng

  2. Key Laboratory of Technology and Model for Cyclic Utilization from Agricultural Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, 100125, China

    Yujun Shen, Haibin Zhou & Haibo Meng

  3. Center for Environmental Remediation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Guodi Zheng & Tongbin Chen

  4. Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Center, Ministry of Environmental Protection, No. 1 Yuhuinanlu Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Rui Guo

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  1. Yujun Shen
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Correspondence to Tongbin Chen.

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Shen, Y., Zhou, H., Meng, H. et al. Generation and Emission of Ammonia During the Full-Scale Composting of Sewage Sludge. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 4757–4766 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00791-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00791-x

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