Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Sequential Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide Adsorption on Pyrolyzed Biomass to Recover Waste Stream Nutrients

Journal Article · · ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
Untreated fecal waste in unsewered communities and reactive nitrogen (N) loading from wastewater and urine disposal are important environmental challenges. Through pyrolysis, untreated fecal waste can be converted into amine-rich carbon dioxide (CO2) sorbents, the chemisorption of which tunes the surface chemistry toward ammonia (NH3) uptake. We compared the N-loading potential within amine-rich pyrolyzed human solid waste through exposure to CO2 followed by NH3 with the N-loading potential on carboxyl-rich, pyrolyzed oxidized wood using sequential adsorption of isotopically labeled CO2 and NH3. The total N content of pyrolyzed oxidized wood exposed once to NH3 was similar to native, pyrolyzed human solid waste (3.7% compared to 4.6%). However, sorption kinetics and spectroscopic evidence revealed distinct N forms between the two materials affecting subsequent CO2 and NH3 uptake. Tertiary amines comprised 70% of N in pyrolyzed waste, compared to only 53% in pyrolyzed oxidized wood. The high heat of adsorption of CO2 on pyrolyzed human solid waste (50 kJ mol-1) at low concentrations (0.05 mmol CO2 g-1) was indicative of CO2 reactivity with tertiary amines, consistent with the formation of carbamic acid (Figure S1). Conversely, after exposure to NH3, pyrolyzed oxidized wood chemisorbed CO2 at much higher concentrations (0.7 mmol CO2 g-1), pointing to primary amines as the active functional moieties. Adsorption kinetics of pyrolyzed oxidized wood revealed continued, albeit diminishing NH3 uptake with each consecutive CO2 treatment, averaging 5.9 mmol NH3 g-1 for the first NH3 exposure event, and still 3.5 and 2.9 mmol NH3 g-1 for the second and third. Penetration of 15NH3 and 13CO2 measured by NanoSIMS reached over 7 µm deep into both materials, explaining the large NH3 capture. The significantly lower NH3 adsorption compared to pyrolyzed oxidized wood may be a result of potassium (K) carbonate precipitation precluding a Lewis base interaction between NH3 and chemisorbed CO2, suggested by a 2-fold increase in surface K concentrations after exposure of pyrolyzed human solid waste to CO2+NH3 detected by XPS.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1755114
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-138582
Journal Information:
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Journal Name: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 8; ISSN 2168-0485
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (77)

Simultaneous Inference in General Parametric Models journal June 2008
Flexible and Rigid Amine-Functionalized Microporous Frameworks Based on Different Secondary Building Units: Supramolecular Isomerism, Selective CO 2 Capture, and Catalysis journal March 2014
Reactions involving CO2, H2O, and NH3: The formation of (i) carbamic acid, (ii) urea, and (iii) carbonic acid journal June 1986
XPS analysis of bio-organic systems journal October 2011
ggplot2 book January 2009
Factors Affecting the Removal of Ammonia from Air on Carbonaceous Materials: Investigation of Reactive Adsorption Mechanism book January 2012
NanoSIP: NanoSIMS Applications for Microbial Biology book January 2012
Characterization of different compost extracts using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal analysis journal March 2008
Nitrogen input quality changes the biochemical composition of soil organic matter stabilized in the fine fraction: a long-term study journal July 2013
Biochar adsorbed ammonia is bioavailable journal July 2011
A wood based low-temperature biochar captures NH3-N generated from ruminant urine-N, retaining its bioavailability journal October 2011
Ammonia adsorption on graphene and graphene oxide: a first-principles study journal February 2013
Recovery of Ammonium in Urine by Biochar Derived from Faecal Sludge and its Application as Soil Conditioner journal March 2017
A study of structure–activity relationships of commercial tertiary amines for post-combustion CO2 capture journal December 2016
Characterization of biochars to evaluate recalcitrance and agronomic performance journal June 2012
Ammonia emission mitigation in food waste composting: A review journal January 2018
Modeling adsorption of CO2 on amine-functionalized mesoporous silica. 2: Kinetics and breakthrough curves journal July 2010
Evaluation of CO2 adsorption with eucalyptus wood based activated carbon modified by ammonia solution through heat treatment journal October 2014
Nitrate removal from water using electrostatic regeneration of functionalized adsorbent journal February 2018
Adsorption and desorption of ammonium by maple wood biochar as a function of oxidation and pH journal November 2015
Recovery of ammonium from aqueous solutions using ZSM-5 journal May 2018
Amine terminated SAMs: Investigating why oxygen is present in these films journal May 2009
Nitrogen speciation and transformations in fire-derived organic matter journal May 2020
On the reactive adsorption of ammonia on activated carbons modified by impregnation with inorganic compounds journal October 2009
Continuous urea–nitrogen recycling from human urine: A step towards creating a human excreta based bio–economy journal January 2018
Synthesis of activated carbon from lignocellulosic biomass and its applications in air pollution control—a review journal December 2013
Nitrogen enrichment potential of biochar in relation to pyrolysis temperature and feedstock quality journal April 2015
Using modified Avrami kinetic and two component isotherm equation for modeling of CO 2 /N 2 adsorption over a 13X zeolite bed journal November 2015
Oxidation of black carbon by biotic and abiotic processes journal November 2006
Chemical and bioassay characterisation of nitrogen availability in biochar produced from dairy manure and biosolids journal October 2012
Sorbents can tailor nitrogen release from organic wastes to match the uptake capacity of crops journal December 2018
XPS and NEXAFS studies of aliphatic and aromatic amine species on functionalized surfaces journal September 2009
Biological and thermochemical conversion of human solid waste to soil amendments journal April 2019
Treatment processes for source-separated urine journal October 2006
Imaging and 3D Elemental Characterization of Intact Bacterial Spores by High-Resolution Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry journal August 2008
Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Adsorption onto Ammonia-Modified Activated Carbon: Kinetic Analysis and Breakthrough Behavior journal September 2015
In Situ Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Mechanistic Studies of Carbon Dioxide Reactions with Liquid Amines in Aqueous Systems: New Insights on Carbon Capture Reaction Pathways journal July 2015
In Situ Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Mechanistic Studies of Carbon Dioxide Reactions with Liquid Amines in Mixed Base Systems: The Interplay of Lewis and Brønsted Basicities journal August 2015
The Structure of Adsorbed Species on Immobilized Amines in CO 2 Capture: An in Situ IR Study journal August 2016
Comparing Ion Exchange Adsorbents for Nitrogen Recovery from Source-Separated Urine journal February 2017
Role of Amine Functionality for CO 2 Chemisorption on Silica journal November 2015
Effect of N-Containing Functional Groups on CO 2 Adsorption of Carbonaceous Materials: A Density Functional Theory Approach journal April 2016
Effect of Humidity on the CO 2 Adsorption of Tertiary Amine Grafted SBA-15 journal October 2017
A Microporous Amic Acid Polymer for Enhanced Ammonia Capture journal April 2017
Ammonia Removal Using Activated Carbons: Effect of the Surface Chemistry in Dry and Moist Conditions journal December 2011
Transitional Adsorption and Partition of Nonpolar and Polar Aromatic Contaminants by Biochars of Pine Needles with Different Pyrolytic Temperatures journal July 2008
Molecular orbital approach to substituent effects in amine-CO2 interactions journal October 1988
Ammonia Capture in Porous Organic Polymers Densely Functionalized with Brønsted Acid Groups
  • Van Humbeck, Jeffrey F.; McDonald, Thomas M.; Jing, Xiaofei
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 136, Issue 6, p. 2432-2440 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja4105478
journal January 2014
The Chemistry of CO 2 Capture in an Amine-Functionalized Metal–Organic Framework under Dry and Humid Conditions journal August 2017
The “Missing” Bicarbonate in CO 2 Chemisorption Reactions on Solid Amine Sorbents journal June 2018
Adsorption and Dissociation of Ammonia on Graphene Oxides: A First-Principles Study journal April 2012
Mechanism and Kinetics of CO 2 Adsorption on Surface Bonded Amines journal February 2015
Self-Assembled Monolayers of Aromatic ω-Aminothiols on Gold: Surface Chemistry and Reactivity journal December 2009
The new economy of excrement journal September 2017
Cooperative insertion of CO2 in diamine-appended metal-organic frameworks journal March 2015
Fire-derived organic matter retains ammonia through covalent bond formation journal February 2019
The increased CO2 adsorption performance of chitosan-derived activated carbons with nitrogen-doping journal January 2016
Optimization of production conditions for synthesis of chemically activated carbon produced from pine cone using response surface methodology for CO2 adsorption journal January 2015
Observation of the wrapping mechanism in amine carbon dioxide molecular interactions on heterogeneous sorbents journal January 2016
Highly effective ammonia removal in a series of Brønsted acidic porous polymers: investigation of chemical and structural variations journal January 2017
Alkali ion migration mechanisms in silicate glasses probed by molecular dynamics simulations journal June 2002
Revisiting the chemistry of graphite oxides and its effect on ammonia adsorption journal January 2009
Recycling nutrients contained in human excreta to agriculture: Pathways, processes, and products journal January 2019
Fityk : a general-purpose peak fitting program journal September 2010
Nitrogen K -edge XANES – an overview of reference compounds used to identify `unknown' organic nitrogen in environmental samples journal October 2007
Calibration method at the N K -edge using interstitial nitrogen gas in solid-state nitrogen-containing inorganic compounds journal July 2008
IPython: A System for Interactive Scientific Computing journal January 2007
NanoSIMS for biological applications: Current practices and analyses journal June 2018
The Evolution and Future of Earth’s Nitrogen Cycle journal October 2010
Direct Observation and Quantification of CO 2 Binding Within an Amine-Functionalized Nanoporous Solid journal October 2010
Ammonia Pollution From Farming May Exact Hefty Health Costs journal January 2014
Opportunities and limits to market-driven sanitation services: evidence from urban informal settlements in East Africa journal June 2015
Characterizing Properties of Biochar Produced from Simulated Human Feces and Its Potential Applications journal March 2016
Urea and Ammonia Metabolism and the Control of Renal Nitrogen Excretion journal August 2015
Work Function Characterization of Potassium-Intercalated, Boron Nitride Doped Graphitic Petals journal July 2017
High-resolution ammonia emissions inventories in China from 1980 to 2012 journal January 2016
Application of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Chemical and Chemometrics Analyses to the Characterization of Agro-Industrial Waste journal January 2014

Cited By (1)

Enhancing plant N uptake with biochar-based fertilizers: limitation of sorption and prospects journal March 2022