Changes of nutrients and potentially toxic elements during hydrothermal carbonization of pig manure

Chengfang Song; Wenqiao Yuan; Shengdao Shan; Qi Ma; Haibo Zhang; Xudong Wang; Nabeel Khan Niazi; Hailong Wang

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125331

Changes of nutrients and potentially toxic elements during hydrothermal carbonization of pig manure

Chemosphere. 2020 Mar:243:125331. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125331. Epub 2019 Nov 12.

Authors

Chengfang Song¹, Wenqiao Yuan², Shengdao Shan³, Qi Ma⁴, Haibo Zhang⁵, Xudong Wang⁶, Nabeel Khan Niazi⁷, Hailong Wang⁸

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China. Electronic address: songcf@zafu.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China. Electronic address: wyuan2@ncsu.edu.
³ Key Laboratory of Recycling and Eco-treatment of Waste Biomass of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China. Electronic address: shanshd@vip.sina.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China. Electronic address: 1004126291@qq.com.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China. Electronic address: hbzhang@zafu.edu.cn.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China. Electronic address: 99739945@qq.com.
⁷ Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan; School of Civil Engineering and Surveying, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, 4350, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: nabeelkniazi@gmail.com.
⁸ Biochar Engineering Technology Research Center of Guangdong Province, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, China. Electronic address: hailong.wang@fosu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31995863
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125331

Abstract

The effects of reaction temperature, residence time, sulfuric acid and potassium hydroxide on the total concentration and speciation of N and P, potentially toxic elements (salts and metal elements) of pig manure during its hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) were investigated. Concentrations of Cl, K, Na and Mg in the hydrochars were much lower but total N, P and nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃^--N) contents were significantly higher than in untreated pig manure. The acid-extractable fractions of Cu and Zn in hydrochars were 0.03-0.63 and 0.17-0.66 times lower than those in pig manure and decreased significantly with increasing reaction temperature. The addition of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) or potassium hydroxide (KOH) in HTC reduced the contents of P, Ca, Mg, Cl and heavy metal elements (HMEs) in hydrochars, and the removal rates of Cu and Zn were up to 55% and 59%, respectively. Overall, the rapid treatment of pig manure by HTC reduced the harm of salts and HMEs, and effectively recovered the nutrients in pig manure. The HTC under alkaline conditions was desirable for optimizing the main elemental composition of the hydrochars.

Keywords: Heavy metal elements; Hydrothermal carbonization; Nutrient; Pig manure; Salts.

MeSH terms

Animals
Carbon
Hydroxides / chemistry
Manure* / analysis
Metals, Heavy / analysis
Minerals / analysis
Nitrogen / analysis
Phosphorus / chemistry
Potassium Compounds / chemistry
Sulfuric Acids / chemistry
Swine
Temperature
Time Factors
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods*

Substances

Hydroxides
Manure
Metals, Heavy
Minerals
Potassium Compounds
Sulfuric Acids
Phosphorus
Carbon
Nitrogen
sulfuric acid
potassium hydroxide