Catalytic Performance of Cow-Dung Sludge in Water Treatment Mitigation and Conversion of Ammonia Nitrogen into Nitrate

Abstract

The present research study was performed to find a solution for the mitigation of ammonia nitrogen in municipally treated sewage effluent (MTSE) using two natural bio-resources. One was composted cow-dung sludge that had catalytic enzymes and nitrifying bacterial mass, and the second was Yucca extract (a desert plant). MTSE samples put in one-liter beakers/jars having initial ammonia nitrogen content of 34.78 mg/L, when treated with 0.0 g/L (control Sample), 1 g/L, 5 g/L (cowdung) and 10 mg/L, 50 mg/L (Yucca extract), respectively, reported depletion of ammonia nitrogen to about 0.00 mg/L ammonia (NH3) as N. It (NH3) transformed to 17.8, 0.18, 0.09, 18.65, and 18.85 mg/L nitrite asN. Ammonia converted to 21.8, 110.1, 133.5, 20.5, 20.8 mg/L nitrate asNO3, respectively. After eight days of treatment, the jar test apparatus reported the results at 35 rounds per minute (RPM) and a temperature of 32 °C. It was found that digested cowdung acted catalytically in eliminating the ammonia nitrogen by converting it to nitrate in a short period of nearly eight days, leading to almost 100% ammonia conversion.