Ammonia nitrogen removal from wastewaters has gained much attention in recent decades as a result of the environmental problems associated with discharge of excessive amounts of this critical nutrient including eutrophication of receiving waters, generation of offensive odours as a result of organism decay and complications associated with the disinfection of water supplies. While removal via biological processes represents the principal means by which a reduction in dissolved nitrogen concentrations is achieved, an electrochemical advanced oxidation process has been proposed as a potentially effective alternate means of removing ammonia from wastewaters with the removal associated with the in situ generation of oxidants (particularly active chlorine) at the anode. Here we describe the influence of key factors on the rate and extent of ammonia nitrogen removal in an electrochemical cell with a Ti/IrO₂-RuO₂ anode and Ti cathode. The rate of ammonia removal was found to be dependent on both current density and initial chloride concentration with ∼95% ammonia removed from a 20 mM Cl⁻ solution within approximately 40 min at a current density of 3 mA cm⁻², resulting in an energy consumption of 126 kWh kg⁻¹ NH₄⁺-N. Additionally, we show that by-products formation is effectively suppressed during the electrolysis process. A mechanistically-based kinetic model incorporating the key processes operating in the ammonia electro-oxidation process was developed with particular attention given to (i) anodic generation of active chlorine and other chloride-related by-products, (ii) active chlorine mediated ammonia oxidation. The results demonstrate that the electrochemical advanced oxidation process is a promising technology for treatment of ammonia-containing wastewaters with advantages including simplicity, safety and effectiveness.

由于排放过量的这种关键营养素所引起的环境问题，包括接收水的富营养化，由于生物体腐烂而产生的令人讨厌的气味以及与之相关的并发症，最近几十年来，废水中氨氮的去除受到了广泛关注。供水消毒。虽然通过生物过程进行去除是实现降低溶解氮浓度的主要手段，但电化学先进的氧化过程已被提议作为一种潜在有效的替代方法，可以从废水中去除氨，并与原位结合进行去除。在阳极产生氧化剂（特别是活性氯）。在这里，我们描述了在具有Ti / IrO ₂ -RuO ₂阳极和Ti阴极的电化学电池中，关键因素对氨氮去除速率和程度的影响。氨去除的速率被认为是依赖于两个电流密度和初始的氯离子浓度以约95％的氨从20mM的氯去除^-以3mA cm 2的电流密度在大约40分钟的溶液^-2，产生的能量消耗126 kWh kg ^-1 NH ₄ ⁺-N。此外，我们表明在电解过程中副产物的形成得到有效抑制。建立了结合氨电氧化过程中关键过程的基于机械的动力学模型，并特别注意（i）阳极产生活性氯和其他与氯有关的副产物，（ii）活性氯介导的氨氧化。结果表明，电化学高级氧化工艺是一种用于处理含氨废水的有前途的技术，其优点包括简单，安全和有效。