EVALUATION OF A PERMEABLE, 5 CM THICK, POLYETHYLENE FOAM LAGOON COVER

Abstract

Anaerobic lagoons and liquid manure storage basins are widely used for the treatment and storage of livestock and poultry manure. Although relatively inexpensive to construct, these devices have been widely criticized based upon their odor and ammonia release. A floating, permeable, composite cover manufactured from recycled polyethylene chips topped with a geotextile layer containing zeolite particles was evaluated under both laboratory and field conditions. Under laboratory conditions, the cover was found essentially to eliminate odor release and to reduce ammonia emissions by approximately 80%. When installed on a 0.4 ha swine manure lagoon in eastern North Carolina, the cover survived severe storms and allowed even intense rainfall to pass through without causing cover inundation. Under these field conditions, the cover was found to reduce ammonia emissions approximately 80%. Odor emissions measured twice during one month of the study were consistently low in concentration and near neutral relative to quality, as determined by an analysis by a trained odor panel. Microbiological examination of the cover after four months of use showed an active population of aerobic bacteria and protozoa; analysis showed that nitrifying, sulfide oxidizing, and methanotrophic bacteria were likely trophic components of the microbial populations observed. The surface of the cover became covered with an algal population within two weeks of installation. This and other vegetative growth had no discernable impact on the performance of the cover.