Ammonia Removal Model Based on the Equilibrium and Mass Transfer Principles

In air stripping of ammonia from the aqueous solution, a new removal model was presented considering the equilibrium principles for the ammonia in aqueous solution and between the aqueous and air phase. The effects of pH, temperature and airflow rate on the ammonia removal were evaluated with the model. In addition, the saturation degree of ammonia in air was defined and used to evaluate the effect of each experimental factor on the removal rate. As pH (8.9 to 11.9) or temperature (20 to 50 oC) was increased, the overall removal rate constants in all cases were appeared to be increased. Our presented model shows that the degrees of saturation were about the same (0.45) in all cases when the airflow condition remains the same. This result indicates that the effect of pH and temperature were directly taken into consideration in the model equation. As the airflow increases, the overall removal rate constants were increased in all cases as expected. However, the saturation degree was exponentially decreased with increasing the airflow rate in the air phase (or above-surface) aeration. In the subsurface aeration the saturation degree remains a constant value of 0.65 even though the airflow rate was increased. These results indicate that the degree of saturation is affected mainly by the turbulence of the aqueous solution and remains the same above a certain airflow rate.