Polyester conversion by homogeneous catalysis for separating and recycling ammonia from biogas

Zhangliang Han; Yubo Yan; Xiaobing Pang; Aoran Zhang; Zhong-Ting Hu; Gutian Wenren; Senchen Lan; Dezhi Sun

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168138

Polyester conversion by homogeneous catalysis for separating and recycling ammonia from biogas

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jan 10:907:168138. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168138. Epub 2023 Oct 27.

Authors

Zhangliang Han¹, Yubo Yan², Xiaobing Pang³, Aoran Zhang², Zhong-Ting Hu⁴, Gutian Wenren², Senchen Lan², Dezhi Sun⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China; Shaoxing Research Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Shaoxing 312000, China.
² College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
³ College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China. Electronic address: pangxb@zjut.edu.cn.
⁴ College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China; Industrial Catalysis Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
⁵ College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing Key Lab for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, Engineering Research Center for Water Pollution Source Control & Eco-remediation, Beijing 100083, China.

PMID: 37890631
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168138

Abstract

Biogas is being promoted as a renewable and clean energy source. However, NH₃ is a precursor of NO_x and PM_2.5 within the biogas, threatening ecological and human health. Therein, recycling waste NH₃ from the biogas as a raw material of nitrogen fertilizer was tested by optimizing polyester as a sorbent material. After homogeneous catalysis, the converted polyester significantly increased the NH₃ adsorption sites within polyester nanopores; correspondingly, the NH₃ adsorption capacity increased from 0.56 mg·g^-1 to 84.07 mg·g^-1. Based on the structural characterization of polyesters, functional groups analysis before and after adsorption, and kinetic analysis during adsorption, chemical adsorption was identified as the dominant mechanism for NH₃ adsorption. Moreover, selective adsorption and the regeneration experiments to optimize polyester indicated that NH₃ could be efficiently separated from biogas with good regeneration performance. The results demonstrate the efficacy of recycling waste polyester and NH₃ from the biogas.

Keywords: Ammonia adsorbent; Ammonia recovery; Biogas purification; Plastic circulation; Polyester.