System, device and method for production of high-nitrogen organic liquid fertilizer from ammonia rich wastewaters and digester effluents

An ammonia wastewater recovery system, the system comprising:

• a first filtering apparatus including a screw press that filters a first set of solids from an input slurry medium including ammonia by pressing the slurry medium through a plurality of screens of the screw press, wherein each subsequent one of the screens through which the slurry medium is forced has smaller apertures than the previous one of the screens;
• a second filtering apparatus coupled with an output of the first filtering apparatus and including a sump, one or more storage tanks and a static bag filter, wherein the sump pumps the input slurry medium as output by the first filtering apparatus through the static bag filter thereby removing a second set of solids from the input slurry medium and pumps resulting filtrate output by the static bag filter into the one or more storage tanks;
• a third filtering apparatus coupled with an output of the storage tanks via one or more input valves and including one or more output valves and at least one ultra-fine membrane, wherein for each of a plurality of batches of the filtrate received from the storage tanks the third filtering apparatus:
• filters a third set of solids from the batch of the filtrate without using coagulating or flocculating polymers by forcing the batch through the at least one ultra-fine membrane producing a remaining permeate;
• and
• cleans the membrane after the batch has been completely filtered by the at least one ultra-fine membrane by flushing water through the at least one ultra-fine membrane before a next one of the batches is forced through the at least one ultra-fine membrane, wherein the water is between 80 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit;
• a pH adjustment apparatus coupled with the third filtering apparatus and including an adjustment tank and an adjustment pump, wherein the pH adjustment apparatus adjusts a pH level of the remaining permeate by mixing the remaining permeate with a bicarbonate medium when the pH level is below a threshold value forming an adjusted permeate and pumping the adjusted permeate to one or more stripping columns via a permeate pipeline;
• and
• thermo-physical ammonia recovery apparatus including the one or more stripping columns coupled with one or more condensing columns, wherein the recovery apparatus recovers the ammonia from the adjusted permeate by steam stripping the adjusted permeate in the one or more stripping columns thereby producing vaporized ammonia, channeling the vaporized ammonia to the one or more condensing columns and condensing the vaporized ammonia in the one or more condensing columns without acid scrubbing the vaporized ammonia.

A method of recovering ammonia from wastewater, the method comprising:

• filtering a first set of solids from an input slurry medium including ammonia by pressing the slurry medium through a plurality of screens of a screw press, wherein each subsequent one of the screens through which the slurry medium is forced has smaller apertures than the previous one of the screens, wherein filtering the first set of solids further comprises running the slurry medium through a shaker deck having one or more shaker screens;
• filtering a second set of solids from the input slurry medium as output by the screw press with a static bag filter and pumping resulting filtrate to one or more storage tanks;
• for each of a plurality of batches of the filtrate:
• filtering a third set of solids from the batch of the filtrate without using coagulating or flocculating polymers by forcing the batch through a plurality of ultra-fine membranes producing a remaining permeate, wherein each subsequent one of the membranes through which the batch is forced has smaller pores than the previous one of the membranes;
• and
• cleaning the membranes after the batch has been completely filtered by the membranes by preparing an alkaline wash by adjusting a pH level of wash water to 12 with sodium hydroxide, flushing the alkaline wash through the membranes, and then flushing rinse water through the membranes before a next one of the batches is forced through the membranes, wherein the rinse water is between 80 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit;
• adjusting a pH level of the remaining permeate by mixing the remaining permeate with a bicarbonate medium when the pH level is below a threshold value forming an adjusted permeate and pumping the adjusted permeate to one or more stripping columns via a permeate pipeline, wherein adjusting the pH level of the remaining permeate comprises dynamically injecting the bicarbonate medium into the permeate pipeline at an injection rate, wherein the injection rate is dynamically adjusted based on a measured pH level of the adjusted permeate within the permeate pipeline after the bicarbonate medium has been injected such that the measured pH level remains above a target value;
• thermo-physically recovering the ammonia from the adjusted permeate by steam stripping the adjusted permeate in the one or more stripping columns thereby producing vaporized ammonia, channeling the vaporized ammonia to one or more condensing columns and condensing the vaporized ammonia in the condensing columns without acid scrubbing the vaporized ammonia, wherein the steam stripping comprises generating steam from the adjusted permeate by heating the adjusted permeate with a heat exchanger coupled to the one or more stripping columns;
• and
• pumping wastewater exiting the one or more stripping columns after the ammonia has been recovered into a reverse osmosis system that separates salt from the wastewater.