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Completed
No time to waste
FunderNetherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Duration01 Jun 2021 - 01 Jun 2025
Project codeENPPS.LIFT.019.018
Open Access mandatePublications: NoResearch data: No
Identifiers
Project timeline100%
Description
No time to waste Urgency and potential Since the Dutch Council of State recently ruled out the ‘Programma Aanpak Stikstof’ (PAS; Dutch program approach nitrogen), the message is confrontingly clear: Reducing nitrogen emissions is an absolute necessity for the Netherlands. The impact is immense: 18,000 projects are affected by this crisis and it implies stops on e.g. highway constructions, building of houses and expansion of airports close to Natura 2000 areas. In the Netherlands, 41% of the nitrogen emissions originate from agriculture, being manure by far the largest contributor with a total production volume of 64 billion kg bovine and 10 billion kg pig manure annually. Simultaneously, manure streams contain large amounts of essential plant nutrients (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus; N, K, P), albeit in large-volume, highly diluted aqueous streams. Due to their limited availability and the urgency to reduce nitrogen emissions, there is an absolute necessity to recover and reuse these minerals. In this context, most importantly for a solid business case, is the separation of NH4+ and K. As both components have very similar chemical and physical properties, currently existing separation methods are unable to perform this separation as they lack molecular selectivity. For a sustainable, circular future, and a vital Dutch agricultural sector, methods to separate NH4+ and K are a prerequisite though. There is ‘no time to waste’. Aim and scientific novelty The aim of this research is to build host-functionalized polyelectrolyte Layer-by-Layer (LbL) membranes for the selective transport of the mobile guest molecules. The process involves the deposition of alternating layers of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) together forming a multilayer assembly on a support. Specifically, we focus on the recovery of ammonium from potassium. We use charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) to build the assembly, but oppositely to the work of others, we now add molecular specificity to that: instead of using conventional PEs, we propose to use PEs covalently functionalized with a host that selectively interacts with the mobile target species that need to be recovered. The LbL assembly relies on electrostatic interactions whereas the host is covalently bound to the PE polymer and selectively transports the mobile guest (target species). Our approach will introduce robust molecular specificity in LbL PE membranes because of the covalent binding of ammonia selective receptors to the PE chains. In this versatile and simple approach, we decouple permeability and selectivity: the electrostatic interactions between the PE layers can be used to tailor permeability, whereas the selectivity for the mobile guest (target species; ammonia) is introduced by the covalently bound host. The intrinsic hydrophilic nature of the polyelectrolytes also eliminates the necessity to add plasticizers to facilitate mobility and transport, which have the high risk of leaching out. As the approach is versatile and generically applicable, we investigate chemistry-properties-performance relationships, following a ‘from molecule to process’-approach correlating selected materials chemistry to corresponding chemical and physical properties of the host-functionalized membranes and the ion transport and separation performance characteristics of the ultimate membranes. Next to fundamental laboratory experiments using ideal solutions systematically increasing in complexity (multicomponent mixtures), the best performing membranes are evaluated at larger scale (0.1 m2 membrane module area) at the industrial partner sites using real manure streams. The project is complemented with a process design on the optimum integration of the developed membranes in existing facilities and an economic analysis. Strong collaboration The industrial partners involved form an extraordinary strong consortium. The unique strength of this consortium is the focus on the benefits for the complete chain, from farmers to the large-scale industrial companies sharing the common interest to come to ecological and economical sustainable technological manure treatment in the Netherlands. All partners contribute both in cash and in kind to the project. The project results obtained are frequently discussed, both every six months with all partners (user committee) and in regular bilateral meetings to benefit from industrial experience and guarantee knowledge transfer. The process is water-based, environmentally friendly and easy to scale up. As one of the partners, Darling Ingredients, has its own manure treatment plant, this allows direct implementation of the research results.
Partners (4)
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No time to waste Urgency and potential Since the Dutch Council of State recently ruled out the ‘Programma Aanpak Stikstof’ (PAS; Dutch program approach nitrogen), the message is confrontingly clear: Reducing nitrogen emissions is an absolute necessity for the Netherlands. The impact is immense: 18,000 projects are affected by this crisis and it implies stops on e.g. highway constructions, building of houses and expansion of airports close to Natura 2000 areas. In the Netherlands, 41% of the nitrogen emissions originate from agriculture, being manure by far the largest contributor with a total production volume of 64 billion kg bovine and 10 billion kg pig manure annually. Simultaneously, manure streams contain large amounts of essential plant nutrients (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus; N, K, P), albeit in large-volume, highly diluted aqueous streams. Due to their limited availability and the urgency to reduce nitrogen emissions, there is an absolute necessity to recover and reuse these minerals. In this context, most importantly for a solid business case, is the separation of NH4+ and K. As both components have very similar chemical and physical properties, currently existing separation methods are unable to perform this separation as they lack molecular selectivity. For a sustainable, circular future, and a vital Dutch agricultural sector, methods to separate NH4+ and K are a prerequisite though. There is ‘no time to waste’. Aim and scientific novelty The aim of this research is to build host-functionalized polyelectrolyte Layer-by-Layer (LbL) membranes for the selective transport of the mobile guest molecules. The process involves the deposition of alternating layers of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) together forming a multilayer assembly on a support. Specifically, we focus on the recovery of ammonium from potassium. We use charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) to build the assembly, but oppositely to the work of others, we now add molecular specificity to that: instead of using conventional PEs, we propose to use PEs covalently functionalized with a host that selectively interacts with the mobile target species that need to be recovered. The LbL assembly relies on electrostatic interactions whereas the host is covalently bound to the PE polymer and selectively transports the mobile guest (target species). Our approach will introduce robust molecular specificity in LbL PE membranes because of the covalent binding of ammonia selective receptors to the PE chains. In this versatile and simple approach, we decouple permeability and selectivity: the electrostatic interactions between the PE layers can be used to tailor permeability, whereas the selectivity for the mobile guest (target species; ammonia) is introduced by the covalently bound host. The intrinsic hydrophilic nature of the polyelectrolytes also eliminates the necessity to add plasticizers to facilitate mobility and transport, which have the high risk of leaching out. As the approach is versatile and generically applicable, we investigate chemistry-properties-performance relationships, following a ‘from molecule to process’-approach correlating selected materials chemistry to corresponding chemical and physical properties of the host-functionalized membranes and the ion transport and separation performance characteristics of the ultimate membranes. Next to fundamental laboratory experiments using ideal solutions systematically increasing in complexity (multicomponent mixtures), the best performing membranes are evaluated at larger scale (0.1 m2 membrane module area) at the industrial partner sites using real manure streams. The project is complemented with a process design on the optimum integration of the developed membranes in existing facilities and an economic analysis. Strong collaboration The industrial partners involved form an extraordinary strong consortium. The unique strength of this consortium is the focus on the benefits for the complete chain, from farmers to the large-scale industrial companies sharing the common interest to come to ecological and economical sustainable technological manure treatment in the Netherlands. All partners contribute both in cash and in kind to the project. The project results obtained are frequently discussed, both every six months with all partners (user committee) and in regular bilateral meetings to benefit from industrial experience and guarantee knowledge transfer. The process is water-based, environmentally friendly and easy to scale up. As one of the partners, Darling Ingredients, has its own manure treatment plant, this allows direct implementation of the research results.
