Han-Bit Lee  Younghee Kim

Vol. 31,  No. 4, pp. 355-362, Dec.  2025
10.7464/ksct.2025.31.4.355

High-concentration ammonia removal Odor Deodorization Pollutant Oxidative process

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This study investigated the performance of an advanced oxidation process (AOP) combining hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation for the effective abatement of ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which are both typically emitted from livestock facilities. The removal characteristics were systematically evaluated through a three-phase approach using basic Tedlar bag experiments, controlled chamber tests, and a lab-scale packed-bed scrubber validation. The initial Tedlar bag tests confirmed the superior chemical oxidation capacity of HOCl. It achieved a 10 to 20%p higher NH3 removal efficiency compared to distilled water, including 100% removal at low concentrations. However, the efficiency declined at high concentrations due to the inherent limitations of simple absorption. Subsequent chamber experiments demonstrated that increasing the scrubbing liquid flow rate and incorporating UV irradiation significantly enhanced NH3 removal. This is attributed to improved gas-liquid (G/L) mass transfer and the synergistic effect of radical generation. In the lab-scale scrubber validation, HOCl alone provided a 5 to 10%p improvement over the distilled water baseline. Crucially, the integration of UV resulted in an NH3 removal efficiency exceeding 98% across all tested operating conditions. For H2S, which exhibited a lower initial removal efficiency, performance was enhanced by enlarging the nozzle diameter and increasing the packing height to optimize the scrubber’s physical parameters in combination with high-concentration HOCl and UV application.