Sciencemadness Discussion Board

fermenting ammonia solution to form nitrates

John paul III - 17-8-2020 at 17:29

If I were to infect ammonia solution with soil bacteria, and put in some fresh grass to provide other nutrients for them, I should end up with ammonium nitrate. I wonder how long could it take? Fermenting piss for nitrates takes about a year, but since in this case there no need to decompose urea, could it take like two weeks? And how dilute should I make the ammonia to not kill the bacteria im introducing?

symboom - 17-8-2020 at 18:08

I'd say give it a try with urea and Nitrifying bacteria and add silica gel (in silica cat litter) so they have a surface to grow the less contamination the better filtration.
Urea is in some really cheap cold packs.

Urine is mostly urea you could add animo acids (supplement) and protiens also in urine but I don't see how that would change anything and would add to more filtration needed
Adding potassium carbonate and maintaining the correct ph is probably also will help improve yield

nitrifying bacteria are very sensitive to pH Nitrosomonas has an optimal pH between approximately 7.0 and 8.0, and the optimum pH range for Nitrobacter is approximately 7.5 to 8.0.

I found this at petsmart
API QUICK START Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Nitrifying Bacteria 16-Ounce Bottle

If you wanted to use ammonia the pH could be adjusted by adding carbon dioxide in a cold solution to form ammonium bicarbonate. Oh of 7.8

You could also add ammonium sulfate made by the reaction of ammonium hydroxide and magnesium sulfate.

[Edited on 18-8-2020 by symboom]

Mateo_swe - 18-8-2020 at 11:23

Maybe there is a fungus or enzyme that does just that.
Have you searched the net on this conversion?