Abstract
This study determined the water quality improvements in swine lagoons by an innovative swine manure treatment system operating at full-scale during five pig production cycles. The system performed high-rate solid-liquid separation, biological ammonia treatment and phosphorus treatment. Based on performance results obtained, it was determined that the treatment system met the technical environmental performance criteria for swine waste management systems in new or expanding operations in North Carolina. The system substantially reduced odor by 99.9%; pathogens by 99.99%, nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) by > 90%, and heavy metals by 99%. As the treated effluent and/or rainwater renovated the liquid in the anaerobic lagoons, they became aerobic (Eh > 300 millivolts). By the end of the second year, the NH4-N concentration in the lagoons liquid was reduced from the initial 370-485 mg L-1 to lower than 15. After conversion, the sludge accumulation in the former lagoons was halted. This was a significant outcome because one converted lagoon served twice the number of animals than before implementation of the innovative manure treatment system, which is similar to a situation of herd expansion. These findings overall showed that cleaner alternative technologies can have significant positive impacts on water quality in intensive swine production.
Highlights
Waste from confined swine production operations in the southeastern U.S is stored and treated in large, open anaerobic lagoons prior to application on cropland (Barker, 1996a; Westerman et al, 2010)
Reduction in odor was characterized as described by Loughrin et al (2009) that measured in the liquid the concentration of five odor compounds characteristic of swine manure using extraction with Twister stir bars (Gerstel, Baltimore, MD) coated with polydimethylsiloxane followed by thermal desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
The wastewater treatment performance of the plant are presented in Table 1; the various columns show changes in water quality indicators as the liquid manure passed through the three treatment steps as well as the overall system efficiency
Summary
Waste from confined swine production operations in the southeastern U.S is stored and treated in large, open anaerobic lagoons prior to application on cropland (Barker, 1996a; Westerman et al, 2010). After year 2000, there was great public interest in developing new swine manure treatment systems in the region to address multiple environmental and health concerns associated with the anaerobic lagoon system. These concerns included emissions of ammonia (Aneja et al, 2008), pathogens (Sobsey et al, 2001; Vanotti et al, 2005), odors (Schiffman and Williams, 2005; Loughrin et al, 2006), and deterioration of water quality (Mallin, 2000). Demonstrations of new treatment systems were conducted on-farm to demonstrate feasibility of environmental superior waste management technologies (EST) that could address. As a result of this process, new legislation in North Carolina was enacted enforcing the environmental performance standards of EST for the construction of new swine farms or expansion of existing swine farms (NC Legislature, 2007; 15A NCAC 02T, 2010; Sommer et al, 2013)
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