Thesis (M.S.)--Duquesne University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p.72) and index.

During this master thesis, the possibility of ammonia removal from digestate in combination with after hygienization has been investigated. The aim of the work was to see how much ammonia that could be removed but also the properties of other process parameters such as TS/VS content, pH and alkalinity of the digestate. It was also of interest to study the energy balances for a process that combines ammonia stripping with after hygienization. The purpose of hygienization in a biogas plant is to kill pathogens. To study ammonia stripping combined with after hygienization, a prototype of an ammonia stripper was built in a laboratory. The digestate was heated to the hygienization temperature of 70 °C and air was led through with the help of a peristaltic pump by the end of the system. Condensate was trapped in a bottle by cooling the tube and the gases were brought to another bottle containing 1 M sulfuric acid. Ammonia and sulfuric acid reacted and formed ammonium sulfate. The process was also tested with closed system using vacuum to decrease the boiling point and thereby create more condensate. The results from the experiments showed that with an air stripping process most of the ammonium was trapped in the sulfuric acid while with a vacuum process more ammonium was trapped in the condensate. The most important parameters to achieve a good ammonia removal were air flow and time. With the vacuum system, more condensate was removed. The removal of condensate could make it possible to recirculate process fluid from the stripping process and thereby save energy in the centrifugation part which is used to create a solid part of the bio digestate. It was concluded from the experiments that air stripping is more effective when it comes to ammonium recovery. The process could be improved by using higher air flow which could decrease the time to less than one hour, which is the desired hygienization time. However, it is desired to keep the pump flow as low as possible since it is energy consuming. A chemical increase of the pH would also be of interest to try since previous tests showed a strong correlation between high pH-value and good ammonia stripping. More tests overall are of interest to ensure a reliable result. Still, the combination of after-hygienization and ammonia stripping would contribute to a better environment and a sustainable agriculture with a natural and nutritious digestate.