Sorption and Kinetics of Ammonium-Nitrogen by Naturally Occurring Zeolite Minerals.

Excess nitrogen (N) in the environment can contribute to both air and water quality problems; a significant source of this N is animal waste such as swine effluent.  The ability of zeolites to sorb ammonium-N makes it useful as an N management tool at various points in the animal-agricultural system.  However, zeolite minerals vary in their ability to sorb ammonium-N under different solution environments, and little is known about the kinetics of this cation exchange reaction.  The objectives of this study were to (i) quantify the ability of several naturally occurring zeolite minerals to sorb ammonium-N from inorganic solutions and from swine effluent, and (ii) quantify the kinetics of this cation exchange reaction by both batch and flow-through techniques.  Results of cation exchange and kinetics experiments will be compared in addition to differences between inorganic solutions and swine effluent.