Boosting Nitrate Production in Plasma-Activated Water by Incorporating Dolomite Minerals for Potential Application as a Nitrogen Fertilizer

IF 2.6 3区物理与天体物理 Q3 ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing Pub Date : 2025-03-22 DOI:10.1007/s11090-025-10556-1

Germain Dionmbete, Jean-Baptiste Tarkwa, Franck William Tatchemo Boyom, Serge Nzali, Elie Acayanka, Georges Youbi Kamgang

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Abstract

The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen fertilizer has gained much attention owing to the increasing demand for food given the growth of the world’s population. The gliding arc plasma exhibited great potential in this area and constitutes a green alternative to the conventional Haber–Bosch process of nitrogen fixation by mitigating carbon footprints. The moist air gliding arc plasma treatment has been reported to be effective for the production of nitrogen species for agricultural applications. However, the amount of nitrogen species in the treated water rapidly reached a maximum value within a short time and then no longer increased. Thus, this work proposed an innovative approach to allow nitrate production to continually increase by incorporating a natural harmless dolomite mineral. Interestingly, the results demonstrated a significant effect of dolomite on increasing the nitrate concentration from 115.76 ± 3.15 to 263.19 ± 4.31 mg/L. The effects of operating parameters such as the nature of the feeding gas, the flow rate, the dolomite dosage, and the temperature were investigated. The optimal conditions were established as follows: flow rate, 800 L/h; dolomite dose, 2 g/L; temperature, 45 °C; and moist air gas. Under these conditions, the nitrite and nitrate concentrations reached 16.09 ± 0.50 mg/L and 294.73 ± 5.14 mg/L, respectively, within 60 min of aging. The mechanism of nitrate production was investigated, revealing that the plasma-generated acid species catalyzed dolomite dissolution, releasing Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ ions. In turn, these species react simultaneously with the produced nitrate ions to form double salts of Ca(NO₃)₂ and Mg(NO₃)₂, which serve as reservoirs to promote their accumulation. This study demonstrated substantial nitrate production improvement in distilled water via the use of moist air gliding arc plasma and offered a promising green alternative for nitrogen-based fertilizer production.

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随着世界人口的增长，对粮食的需求不断增加，因此将大气中的氮转化为氮肥的研究备受关注。滑行弧等离子体在这一领域表现出巨大的潜力，是传统哈伯-博什固氮工艺的绿色替代品，可减少碳足迹。据报道，湿空气滑行弧等离子体处理技术可有效生产农业应用所需的氮素。然而，处理后水中的氮元素含量在短时间内迅速达到最大值，随后便不再增加。因此，这项工作提出了一种创新方法，即通过加入一种天然无害的白云石矿物，使硝酸盐产量持续增加。有趣的是，结果表明白云石对硝酸盐浓度从 115.76 ± 3.15 mg/L 提高到 263.19 ± 4.31 mg/L 有显著效果。研究了进料气体性质、流速、白云石用量和温度等操作参数的影响。确定的最佳条件如下：流速 800 L/h；白云石用量 2 g/L；温度 45 °C；湿空气。在这些条件下，亚硝酸盐和硝酸盐浓度在陈化 60 分钟内分别达到 16.09 ± 0.50 mg/L 和 294.73 ± 5.14 mg/L。对硝酸盐产生机制的研究表明，等离子体产生的酸性物质催化白云石溶解，释放出 Ca2+ 和 Mg2+ 离子。反过来，这些物种与产生的硝酸根离子同时反应，形成 Ca(NO3)2 和 Mg(NO3)2 的双盐，作为储层促进硝酸根离子的积累。这项研究表明，通过使用湿空气滑翔电弧等离子体，蒸馏水中的硝酸盐产量有了大幅提高，为氮肥生产提供了一种很有前景的绿色替代方法。

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来源期刊

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing 工程技术-工程：化工

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

8.30%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Publishing original papers on fundamental and applied research in plasma chemistry and plasma processing, the scope of this journal includes processing plasmas ranging from non-thermal plasmas to thermal plasmas, and fundamental plasma studies as well as studies of specific plasma applications. Such applications include but are not limited to plasma catalysis, environmental processing including treatment of liquids and gases, biological applications of plasmas including plasma medicine and agriculture, surface modification and deposition, powder and nanostructure synthesis, energy applications including plasma combustion and reforming, resource recovery, coupling of plasmas and electrochemistry, and plasma etching. Studies of chemical kinetics in plasmas, and the interactions of plasmas with surfaces are also solicited. It is essential that submissions include substantial consideration of the role of the plasma, for example, the relevant plasma chemistry, plasma physics or plasma–surface interactions; manuscripts that consider solely the properties of materials or substances processed using a plasma are not within the journal’s scope.