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This review synthesizes bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for ammonia recovery from wastewater, covering microbial fuel cells (MFCs), microbial electrolysis cells (MECs), microbial desalination cells (MDCs), and bioelectroconcentration cells (BECs). The work details the three-step mechanism: NH₄⁺ electromigration across cation exchange membranes, conversion to NH₃ under alkaline conditions, and extraction via stripping, absorption, or precipitation. Key performance metrics, electrode materials, and operational configurations are compared across lab-scale studies, with emphasis on energy efficiency advantages over conventional Haber-Bosch ammonia production and identifying critical scale-up bottlenecks.

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Abstract

Due to the anticipated rise in demand for ammonia, the search for viable methods to recover it has grown in recent years, as traditional ammonia production is a high energy intensive process. Among the different, bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) offer an alternative solution for ammonia recovery since they have shown lower energy demand (in terms of kJ g−1N recovered) at lab-scale than other methodologies. In BESs, the bioelectrochemically generated current drives the transport of NH4+ from the influent to a concentration chamber through a cation exchange membrane before its subsequent recovery. This paper describes the fundamentals and opportunities for bioelectrochemical ammonia recovery (either by stripping. absorption or precipitation) in different BES devices such as microbial fuel cells, microbial electrolysis cells, microbial desalination cells and bioelectroconcentration cells and compares the performance of all the reported experimental works so far. Moreover, the most critical challenges for its scale-up (low current density, nature and quantity of the carbon source, inlet ammonium concentration, use of membranes, energy yield and recovery efficiency) have been detailed and discussed in view of better understanding the current bottlenecks for its scale-up and, thus, for its prompt industrial adoption.

Keywords

DesalinationAmmoniaWastewaterElectrolysisMicrobial electrolysis cellMicrobial fuel cellEnvironmental scienceEnergy recoveryProcess engineeringSewage treatmentAmmoniumStripping (fiber)Waste managementPulp and paper industryChemistryEnvironmental engineeringBiochemical engineeringMembraneMaterials scienceElectrolyteEngineeringEnergy (signal processing)Anode

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.cej.2023.144855
Journal
Chemical Engineering Journal
Year
2023