Thermal ammonia removal facility treats leachate from largest landfill in Hong Kong

The Organics Group, a UK and Thailand based wastewater treatment specialist, has recently completed the turnkey design, manufacture and installation of its latest HK$ 38 million (US$ 4.8 million) thermal ammonia removal facility to treat leachate from the West New Territories landfill (WENT), the largest landfill in Hong Kong operated by SITA Waste Services, it was announced on 7 March

The facility is designed to treat up to 1230 m3 per day of landfill leachate with an ammonia concentration of 4500 mg / litre. The stripped ammonia is oxidised thermally to nitrogen gas. Organics innovative air-stripping process incorporates several novel features that minimise operating costs including processing at elevated temperatures which avoids the need for alkali addition and minimises operator input.

Organics specialises in the application of this patented process. The company has designed and built all 14 of the thermal ammonia strippers in Hong Kong. The smallest has a flow rate of 480 m3/day and the largest 2,600 m3/day.

“The handover of the WENT 3 thermal ammonia stripper further enhances Organics reputation for delivering high quality process engineering and pollution control solutions”, said Dr Robert Eden, Managing Director of Organics.

Significant improvements in efficiency have enabled Organics to dramatically reduce the energy required to run the processes involved and avoid the need for primary fuel sources, said the firm. There are now several potential options to convert ammonia rich wastewaters into profitable secondary revenue streams such as ammonium salts, liquified ammonia gas, ammonium hydroxide and electricity generation from ammonia fuel.