Abstract
Wastewaters contain ammonia nitrogen that could potentially supply 30% of global nitrogen fertilizer demand if recovered using a viable technology. One way to recover ammonia from wastewater is to convert ammonium in ammonia by elevating the solution pH, instead of using biological processes for ammonia removal. However, conventional air stripping approaches limit their broader implementations due to intensive chemical and energy inputs. Electro-driven processes provide a compelling approach of providing the driving force to simultaneously separate and recover ammonia. This talk will highlight our recent efforts in the development of novel electro- driven processes for ammonia recovery. The use of a proton-mediated redox couple allows for shifting the solution pH at a low cell voltage relative to the electrolysis of water, but it requires an acid to capture ammonia. To enable ammonia recovery without chemical inputs, bipolar membrane electrodialysis has been explored to produce acid and base, both of which are necessary to recover ammonia via membrane stripping. Additionally, these processes can benefit from the use of an ammonium ion-selective membrane to minimize undesired transport of competing ions. One such strategy is to employ Prussian blue analogues as selective ion conducting channels for ammonium. Several remaining challenges and future research plans to move towards a circular
economy will be discussed.
Wednesday, 9/4/2024 at 4:30 pm
CAMP 176
Taeyoung Kim is an assistant professor at Clarkson University with a joint appointment to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Institute for a Sustainable Environment since 2018. Prior to joining Clarkson University, Dr. Kim was a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. He received both BS and PhD degrees in the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering from Seoul National University. Dr. Kim’s research focus centers on the use of electrochemical separation technologies to address sustainability challenges, through energy-efficient and target-specific materials and processes. Major topics include desalination, minimized liquid discharge, resource recovery, and carbon capture from unconventional water sources such as brackish groundwater, wastewater, and brine.