Detox NH3 Textiles - Clean Air for Pig, Man & Environment

The DTNW has been working successfully for many years on the development of so-called adsorber textiles, which are suitable, for example, for the enrichment and recovery of precious metals from industrial process waters, where they can make a significant contribution to improving circulation flows and sustainability. Our latest investigations focus the use of the functional textiles in the adsorption from gaseous phase - namely the adsorption of ammonia. Ammonia has a negative impact on the environment and health. The most important pollution emitter is the farming industry, where ammonia is produced during animal husbandry by excretions from pigs, cattle and chickens, for example. Bound in liquid manure, it is then mostly spread on arable land, where it contributes significantly to overfertilization and contamination of groundwater. In addition, gaseous ammonia is the basis for the formation of long-lived particulate matter, which can lead to severe respiratory diseases and it plays an important role in global warming because it can be transformed to climate-damaging nitrous oxide. Here, we present our results on the direct adsorption of ammonia in pigsties. In our pilot plant, the gas can be removed from the ambient air of the pig house in continuous operation and at the same time converted into a valuable mineral fertilizer that is easy to transport and therefore no longer needs to be applied directly at the point of origin.