Degradation Kinetics for Organic Nitrogen in Bioelectrochemical Systems toward Ammonia Recovery

Land application of dairy manure returns nitrogen (N) to the soil for crop production. However, direct land application of manure faces challenges such as nitrogen volatilization and imprecise manure nitrogen applications, which significantly contribute to losses to the environment while also reducing the nitrogen value of manure. Manure processing methods that can recover nitrogen, particularly organic nitrogen (orgN) in a mineralized form, in a concentrated product can increase the nutrient use efficiency, reducing the demand for manufactured nitrogen fertilizers. In this study, we investigate two operation configurations of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for ammonia (NH3) recovery from orgN in synthetic dairy manure. Glutamic acid, an amino acid found in high concentrations in dairy manure, was used as the N source in the synthetic feed, and the BES was operated in both microbial electrolysis cell (MEC, Eappl. = 0.8 V) and microbial fuel cell (MFC) operation modes. Samples from four time series experiments, two in each operation mode, were analyzed for chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN), and acetate concentrations. Raman spectroscopy was applied to track the orgN content in the time series samples throughout the experiments. Results indicated superior N removal from the anolyte in MEC mode, with an average TN removal above 95% and first-order degradation kinetics with rate coefficients between 0.05 and 0.06 h–1. Kinetic analysis of the Raman data revealed that glutamic acid degradation to be complex and not singularly ordered in either operation mode, requiring further quantitative study. This work provides vital insight into the kinetics of degradation within BES toward a more complete understanding of anode-chamber processes. Such insight can be useful in guiding further research into BES as resource recovery mechanisms and supporting BES adaptation as manure treatment processes focused on the recovery of nutrient-rich, value-added fertilizer products.