The effect of initial loading on the removal of ammonium and potassium from source-separated human urine via clinoptilolite

摘要

Collection of wastewater in segregated streams is one of the new concepts in domesticnwastewater management. One such stream is yellow water which is mainly human urine. Directnuse of this richest fraction in terms of nutrients on plants as fertilizer is one of thenrecommendations as the final end use. Indirect use of urine as fertilizer may also be exercisednafter various modes of processing. One of those is processing with clinoptilolite to transfer plantnnutrients onto the zeolite and then to recover them subsequently. One of the significant factorsnin this process is the initial nutrient loading with which clinoptilolite is charged. This paper aimsnto investigate the transfer of ammonium and potassium from source-separated urine ontonclinoptilolite, concentrating upon surface concentrations attained and removal efficiencies undernvarious initial ammonium loadings. The results have indicated that variations in initial loadingnhave no significant effect in terms of removal efficiencies up to 10mg NHþn4 =g clinoptilolite. Highlynacceptable efficiencies could be attained up to 15mg NHþn4 =g clinoptilolite after which thenefficiency goes down as initial loading is increased. Overall, increased initial loadings result innhigher final surface concentrations but decreased removal efficiencies.