Nitrogen Removal 

Indiana’s new law has enacted stringent nitrogen regulations for dairy farms across the state. To mitigate the harmful effects of nitrogen in the environment, Indiana farmers are now required to remove significant amounts of nitrogen from manure or from the effluent in their digesters. If farmers don't want to treat their digestate, they will need to purchase 10 times more land for their cows (the new law requires 10 acres of land per one head of cow). 

Before the new regulations were announced, process with anaerobic digester followed by a centrifuge was enough to remove organic matters, however, now the new regulation requires nitrogen removal. Additional Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) system can remove upto 80% of nitrogen by separating solid from the wastewater stream.  Furthermore, the anammox process (AMX) is able to treat remaining nitrogen biologically.

BKT is developing an innovative nitrogen removal process for anaerobic digestate which will utilize less energy and will not require an external carbon source.

• BKT’s DAF system has a 30% higher efficiency in removing suspended volatile solids compared to other conventional DAF systems.

• BKT’s AMX process requires 60% less aeration and no external carbon source for the nitrogen removal process. As a result, our AMX process can reduce overall operating costs by 90% compared to conventional BNR (Biological Nutrient Removal) systems, making it a very economical and efficient solution.

References

Indiana Dairy Farm, Indiana

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