Activated Carbons for Removing Ammonia from Piggery Vent Air: A Promising Tool for Mitigating the Environmental Impact of Large-Scale Pig Breeding

Hanna Fałtynowicz, Jan Kaczmarczyk, Rafał Łużny, Karolina Jaroszewska, Katarzyna Pstrowska, Sylwia Hull, Marek Kułażyński and Karol Postawa ()
Additional contact information
Hanna Fałtynowicz: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland
Jan Kaczmarczyk: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland
Rafał Łużny: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland
Karolina Jaroszewska: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland
Katarzyna Pstrowska: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland
Sylwia Hull: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland
Marek Kułażyński: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland
Karol Postawa: Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, ul. Gdańska 7/9, 50-436 Wrocław, Poland

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-24

Abstract: Unsustainable pig breeding is a great threat to the environment. Ammonia is one of the main pollutants emitted in piggery vent air. This work is a comparative survey that presents the findings on the effectiveness of ammonia adsorption from air using various activated carbons (ACs). Detailed consideration is given to the effects of (i) type of raw material (wood char, wood pellet, and commercial lignite-based char), (ii) preparation method (CO 2 , steam, and KOH activation), and (iii) activation conditions (temperature and KOH/char ratio), on the porous structure of ACs and their ammonia sorption capacity and reversibility. Response surface methodology and genetic algorithm were used to find optimum KOH activation conditions. Economic analyses of AC production were performed using process modeling in Aspen software. It was found that ACs obtained from wood char in KOH activation show a maximum ammonia capacity of 397 g/kg, which is at least 2.5-fold higher than that reached on ACs from physical activation. A lower activation temperature (<750 °C) and a higher KOH/char ratio (>3) were preferred for effective adsorption, regardless of the type of feedstock. High sorption reversibility was achieved (87–96%). This makes the obtained sorbents promising sorbents for ammonia removal from piggery vent air with potential subsequent application as nitrogen-enriched biochar for crop fertilization. Thus, it facilitates sustainable pig breeding.

Keywords: adsorption; sorbent; carbon material; carbonaceous material; biochar; air purification; air pollution; pollution removal; sustainable farming; potassium hydroxide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6122/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6122/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6122-:d:1437368

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().