Experimentelle Validierung einer Versuchsanlage zur Anreicherung von Ammonium

Fuel cells will play an important role in the mobility sector in the future, as no CO2-emissions are produced when ammonia is used. However, the problem with the use of ammonia lies in its production. Production using the Haber-Bosch process produces large quantities of CO2-emissions. A process for recovering renewable ammonia from wastewater has been developed at the Montanuniversitaet Leoben. The aim of this work is to determine the influence of various parameters on the ammonium concentration in the regeneration solution. For this purpose, two different series of tests were carried out at the test plant with a sample solution (1000 mg NH4+ L-1), varying the sodium content and the number of columns filled with zeolite. By adding sodium chloride, different concentrations of sodium could be achieved in the regeneration solutions. This was started with a concentration of 4,25 g Na+ L-1 and increased to 34 g Na+ L-1 by repeated doubling. It was found that an increase in the sodium content of the regeneration solution led to a higher ammonium concentration in the regeneration solution both in one column (ML I 34 = 1532,9 mg NH4+ L-1) and in two columns in series (ML II 34 = 1770,9 mg NH4+ L-1). Without the addition of sodium, ammonium concentrations were significantly lower (ML I 0 = 454,4 mg NH4+ L-1; ML II 0 = 194,5 mg NH4+ L-1). However, in contrast to the experiment with one column (ML I 34), the highest ammonium concentration in the experiment with two columns was measured at ML II 17 (2250,4 mg NH4+ L-1).