Why is ammonia high in sewage treatment plants?

Remember, ammonia in wastewater could originate from a variety of sources, including proteins (meat and blood), urea, amino acid products, casein, corrosion inhibitors, process chemicals and raw materials, or cleaning chemicals containing quaternary ammonium compounds.

Where does ammonia come from in sewage?

Ammoniacal nitrogen is the nitrogen found in the ammonia (NH4) part of the sewage – mainly from urine. Nitrogen is a major plant nutrient and too much nitrogen in the effluent can, and does, cause explosive plant growth and algae blooms in watercourses, lakes and ponds.

How do you reduce ammonia in a sewage treatment plant?

The most widely used methods for removing ammonia from wastewater are air stripping [6,7], ion exchange [8,9], breakpoint chlorination [10], and biological nitrification-denitrification [11,12]. The traditional method of removing ammonia from municipal and industrial wastewaters is based on biological treatments.

What comes out of a sewage treatment plant?

Some types of sewage treatment produce sewage sludge which can be treated before safe disposal or reuse. Under certain circumstances, the treated sewage sludge might be termed “biosolids” and can be used as a fertilizer.

What is the effect of ammonia in water?

When ammonia is present in water at high enough levels, it is difficult for aquatic organisms to sufficiently excrete the toxicant, leading to toxic buildup in internal tissues and blood, and potentially death. Environmental factors, such as pH and temperature, can affect ammonia toxicity to aquatic animals.

Does wastewater contain ammonia?

Some wastewaters contain large amounts of ammonia and/or nitrogen-containing compounds that may readily form ammonia. It is often easier and less expensive to remove nitrogen from wastewater in the form of ammonia than to convert it to nitrate-nitrogen before removing it (Culp et al., 1978).

What produces ammonia nitrogen?

A typical modern ammonia-producing plant first converts natural gas, liquified petroleum gas, or petroleum naphtha into gaseous hydrogen. The method for producing hydrogen from hydrocarbons is known as steam reforming. The hydrogen is then combined with nitrogen to produce ammonia via the Haber-Bosch process.

What are the two products of sewage treatment?

Wastewater treatment is usually broken down into two sections: primary treatment, which removes grease, dirt, gravel, and floatable waste, and secondary treatment, which removes even more suspended solids and pollutants by using biological processes.

What happens to sludge from a sewage treatment plant?

Once treated, sewage sludge is then dried and added to a landfill, applied to agricultural cropland as fertilizer, or bagged with other materials and marketed as “biosolid compost” for use in agriculture and landscaping.