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Updated: Oct 15, 2025

Electrochemically and Bioelectrochemically Induced Ammonium Recovery
Published on: January 22, 2015
The effects of electric field assisted composting on ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions varied with different
Yubo Cao1, Xuan Wang2, Xinyuan Zhang2
1Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Hebei Key Laboratory of Soil Ecology, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 286 Huaizhong Road, Shijiazhuang 050021, Hebei, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, PR China.
Abstract:
Enhancing electron transfer through directly elevating electric potential has been verified to reduce gaseous emissions from composting. Reducing electric resistance of composting biomass might be a choice to further strengthening electron transfer. Here, the effects of chemical electrolytes addition on gaseous Nitrogen emission in electric field assistant composting were investigated. Results suggest that adding acidic electrolyte (ferric chloride) significantly reduced ammonia (NH3) emission by 72.1% but increased nitrous oxide (N2O) emission (by 24-fold) (P < 0.05), because of a dual effect on nitrifier activity: i) an elevated abundance and proportion of ammonia oxidizing bacteria Nitrosomonadaceae, and ii) delayed growth of nitrite oxidizing bacteria. Neutral and alkaline electrolytes had no negative or positive effect on N2O or NH3 emission. Hence, there is a potential trade-off between NH3 and N2O mitigation if using ferric chloride as acidic electrolyte, and electrolyte addition should aim to enhance electron production promote N2O mitigation.
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