- Location
- North West
So, it’s another wet weekend (I’m bored 
) and another thread got me thinking about N production especially with the current high (extortionate) prices!
I got wondering why we don’t just extract N from water which would kill two birds with one stone, given it seen as nitrate levels are a major issue. This would reducing nitrate levels and creat a useful product at the same time.
I know sludge is already used as a source of N but it has a very limited application window even more so with the impending ban on autumn spreading on the horizon. Plus I know a lot of people (including myself) don’t like to use sludge.
Anyway, I found a rather interesting article about a 2018 trial in the Netherlands on N extraction at the waste water plant, along with extracting phosphate and potentially other useful products as well.
The harbour Bosch process which uses 42.2–45 MJ/kg-N was used as a benchmark for sustainability, energy consumption and cost effectiveness. The study found that the current most efficient process for N extraction from wast water required 90 MJ/kg-N with the available technology, but there was other benefits such as reduced N2O emissions from the standard wast processing system.
As N price’s continue to rise and the continued environmental movement against agriculture are these the type of projects that more money should be been put into?
Anyway if anyone else is as bored as me and want a read here’s a link to the article -
) and another thread got me thinking about N production especially with the current high (extortionate) prices!I got wondering why we don’t just extract N from water which would kill two birds with one stone, given it seen as nitrate levels are a major issue. This would reducing nitrate levels and creat a useful product at the same time.
I know sludge is already used as a source of N but it has a very limited application window even more so with the impending ban on autumn spreading on the horizon. Plus I know a lot of people (including myself) don’t like to use sludge.
Anyway, I found a rather interesting article about a 2018 trial in the Netherlands on N extraction at the waste water plant, along with extracting phosphate and potentially other useful products as well.
The harbour Bosch process which uses 42.2–45 MJ/kg-N was used as a benchmark for sustainability, energy consumption and cost effectiveness. The study found that the current most efficient process for N extraction from wast water required 90 MJ/kg-N with the available technology, but there was other benefits such as reduced N2O emissions from the standard wast processing system.
As N price’s continue to rise and the continued environmental movement against agriculture are these the type of projects that more money should be been put into?
Anyway if anyone else is as bored as me and want a read here’s a link to the article -
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