Process for treating sludge and manufacturing bioorganically-augmented high nitrogen-containing inorganic fertilizer
First Claim
1. An organically-enhanced, inorganic fertilizer, comprising captured fugitive odorants which comprise uniformly blended:
- ammonium nitrogen bound to organic compounds as a salt; and
plant nutrients, at least some of which comprise the captured fugitive odorants;
wherein the fertilizer contains at least 8% nitrogen by weight, is sterile, meets USEPA Class A biosolid standards, meets USEPA Exceptional Quality (“
EQ”
) standards for metals with levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and zinc below harmful levels for fertilizer, biologically active compounds are denatured or hydrolyzed, is safe for handling, comprises a pH of between pH 5.0 and 7.0, and is at least 98% dry solids by weight;
wherein the fertilizer is in a form of granules or pellets of between 2 mm and 3 mm in diameter; and
wherein the organic compounds comprise odor-causing components that are chemically altered and inactivated.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention describes a new method for treating sludge, which can result in the production of high nitrogen organically-augmented inorganic fertilizer that incorporates municipal sludges or biosolids or organic sludges that can compete with traditional fertilizers such as ammonium phosphate, ammonium sulfate and urea on the commodity fertilizer marketplace. The method takes advantage of the thixotropic property of dewatered biosolids or organic sludge to create a pumpable paste-like material from the biosolids or organic sludge that is then treated with an oxidizer to reduce odorant effects and an acid. This mix is then interacted with concentrated sulfuric and or phosphoric acids and an ammonia source or alternatively a hot or molten melt or salt of ammonium sulfate/phosphate to form a fertilizer mix. The present invention controls the heat, atmospheric pressure and retention time of the fertilizer mix in the reaction vessel. When a fertilizer melt is formed ammoniation is subsequently completed by the specific use of vaporized ammonia. The invention can also be an add-on to commercial production of ammonium salts. The fertilizer produced by the present invention contains more than 8 wt. % nitrogen and preferably 15 wt. % nitrogen. The invention is oriented to be tailored to the biosolids production for individual municipal waste treatment plants in order to keep the fertilizer manufacturing plants of the present invention small with a minimization of logistics and liability.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. An organically-enhanced, inorganic fertilizer, comprising captured fugitive odorants which comprise uniformly blended:
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ammonium nitrogen bound to organic compounds as a salt; and plant nutrients, at least some of which comprise the captured fugitive odorants; wherein the fertilizer contains at least 8% nitrogen by weight, is sterile, meets USEPA Class A biosolid standards, meets USEPA Exceptional Quality (“
EQ”
) standards for metals with levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and zinc below harmful levels for fertilizer, biologically active compounds are denatured or hydrolyzed, is safe for handling, comprises a pH of between pH 5.0 and 7.0, and is at least 98% dry solids by weight;wherein the fertilizer is in a form of granules or pellets of between 2 mm and 3 mm in diameter; and wherein the organic compounds comprise odor-causing components that are chemically altered and inactivated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An organically-enhanced inorganic fertilizer containing uniformly blended:
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ammonium nitrogen bound to organic compounds as a salt; a hardening agent; and plant nutrients mixed into the fertilizer at least some of which comprise captured fugitive odorants;
wherein the fertilizer contains at least 8% nitrogen by weight, is sterile, biologically active compounds are denatured or hydrolyzed, is at least 98% dry solids by weight, has a pH of between pH 5.7 and 6.3, is safe for handling with levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and zinc below harmful levels for fertilizer, and is granular with diameters of between 2 mm and 3 mm and wherein the organic compounds comprise odor-causing components that are chemically altered and inactivated. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An organically-enhanced, inorganic fertilizer containing captured fugitive odorants comprising:
ammonium nitrogen bound to organic compounds as a salt, wherein the fertilizer; is safe for handling with levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and zinc below harmful levels for fertilizer; is at least 90% dry solids by weight; is in a form of granules or pellets of between 2 mm and 3 mm in diameter; and contains chemically altered or inactivated components that would otherwise cause odor. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An organically-enhanced, inorganic fertilizer containing captured fugitive odorants comprising:
ammonium nitrogen bound to organic compounds as a salt, wherein the fertilizer; is sterile and safe for handling with levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and zinc below harmful levels for fertilizer; is at least 98% dry solids by weight; contains no biologically active compounds and components that would otherwise cause odor are chemically altered or inactivated; contains at least 8% nitrogen by weight; is in a form of granules or pellets of between 2 mm and 3 mm in diameter; and meets or exceed USEPA Class A biosolid standards and USEPA Exceptional Quality standards for biosolids with regard to metals.
Specification