Ammonia Gas Removal Characteristics using Biofilter with Activated Carbon Fiber as a Carrier

Abstract

Activated carbon fiber (ACF) was used as the carrier for a biofilter and the removal characteristics of ammonia gas by the ACF biofilter seeded with night soil sludge on a laboratory-scale were investigated. After physical adsorption of the ammonia gas on the ACF at 0.59 g N kg⁻¹ dry ACF, biological the removal of ammonia occurred. The removal capacity of the ammonia gradually increased and its complete removal was observed up to the load of 1.5 g N kg⁻¹ dry ACF day⁻¹ while the maximum removal capacity was 3.5 g N kg⁻¹ dry ACF day⁻¹. Based on a kinetic analysis, the maximum removal rate of ammonia, V_m, obtained was 8.4 g N kg⁻¹ dry ACF day⁻¹ and the saturation constant, K_s, was 26 ppm.

Keywords:

• Activated carbon fiber
• ammonia gas removal
• biofilter
• nitrification
• kinetics