Ammonia removal from oil shale process waters using tubular, microporous polytetrafluoroethene membranes. [Occidental burn No. 6, Geokinetics-9 and Paraho]
Oil shale process waters can contain high concentrations (1 to 30 g/L) of dissolved ammonia/ammonium ion, most of which must be removed prior to discharge or codisposal. Nonosmotic dissolved-gas dialysis (NOGD), a membrane separation process that uses tubular, microporous hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE) membranes, is being evaluated as an alternative to conventional ammonia removal methods, such as steam stripping. Unlike most conventional methods, NOGD is more selective for ammonia, and it combines both removal and recovery of ammonia in a single unit process. The PTFE membrane serves as a gaseous barrier between two aqueous phases. Dissolved ammonia diffuses from the wastewater through the gaseous interface to an acidic absorption solution (dialysate), which serves to maintain the concentration gradient of ammonia gas across the membrane wall. This separation process has been described in a numeric model based on the diffusive transport of ammonia. For an ammonium hydroxide solution, correlation between the numeric model and experimental results was greater than 90% using mass-transfer coefficients as the basis of comparison; correlation between the model and experimental data for waters from three oil shale retorts (Occidental burn No. 6 (Oxy-6), Geokinetics-9, and Paraho) was poorer. On the basis of hydraulic residence times (HRT), the ammonia removals attained were 56% for Oxy-6 (0.92 min HRT), 55% for Geokinetics (0.87 min HRT), and 64% for Paraho (0.83 min HRT). These results from bench-scale experiments demonstrate the potential of NOGD as a rapid ammonia removal process. 22 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA); California Univ., Richmond (USA). Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Health Research Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 5714681
- Report Number(s):
- LBL-20758; CONF-8604172-4; ON: DE86013186
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 19. annual oil shale symposium, Golden, CO, USA, 21 Apr 1986
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AMMONIA
REMOVAL
OIL SHALES
RETORTING
WASTE WATER
DIALYSIS
WATER TREATMENT
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
MASS TRANSFER
MEMBRANES
POROSITY
STEAM STRIPPING
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
WATER
040900* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Waste management