Ammonia is a compound that came from nitrogen and hydrogen formulation. It is a colorless gas that has a distinctive acrid smell. Ammonia is beneficial to the nutritional needs of organisms on land because it serves as a precursor to the production of food and fertilizers. Most often, ammonia is present in the production of many pharmaceutical products. Although it is very common and widely used, ammonia can be caustic and hazardous. We can often see ammonia being used in chemical industries too as a bleaching agent and cleansing agent, primarily in commercial productions of plastics, explosives, and of chemical fertilizers. More often, because of uncontrolled usage of ammonia in the said industries, it pollutes the environment, especially the water. It is good to know some ways on how we can remove excess ammonia in our environment.

One of the known processes on removing ammonia from water is done by putting the water into the Ammonia Stripper and then heated up with the help of a steam. After that, NH3 in the wastewater would be stripped into the steam. Now that we have the NH3-rich steam, this steam is released from the stripper and then will be transferred to the Steam Compressor. The NH3-rich steam will be reheated by this so called Steam Compressor and the NH3-rich steam will be then use as the hear supply for the wastewater at the reboiler. After the activity of the heat trading at the reboiler, the NH3-rich steam is then forwarded to the NH3 Catalytic Converter. This converter will then decompose the steam into Nitrogen and just plain steam. NOx will be produced in the catalytic reaction as a result of usage of the DeNox Reactor. After all the catalytic reactions that will occur, the gas that will be produced would still contain some small amount of NH3. This gas will be cooled down and then, will be released to the atmosphere.

It is somehow accepted, but when you come to think of it, it is a bit harmful to release excess ammonia in the air, even in small amount, if accumulated, it can still be dangerous and can have a lot of effect not only in our water, but also in our environment. Good thing our Mother Earth has its own way to balance things in our surroundings. With the help of the nitrifying bacteria, we can convert Ammonia into a different substance that can be beneficial to other organisms.

We have two groups of nitrifying bacteria. We have the Nistrosomonas spp. which converts the excess ammonia in our surrounding into nitrite. Then the second group of nitrifying bacteria will convert the nitrite into nitrates. These nitrates are now available for the usage of other organisms. This is one of the most natural ways of getting rid of excess ammonia.

Another method that we have in removing excess ammonia from water waste is by using Membrane contractors. This is one the effective alternative for treating the byproducts in the wastewater, wherein ammonia will be removed from the water and immediately turning it into some sort of ammonia salt. These ammonia salts are used commercially and can be profitable. This system is also better than others because it significantly decreases the ammonia load on to the treatment system.