Odour Emission from Pig Houses with Low Ammonia Emission

Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 1997 | No Comments

Presently in the Netherlands for each category of pigs, low cost Green Label systems are available. Low ammonia emission (Green Label) and most of the time low odour emission are criteria for permitting the building of new livestock facilities. This paper presents research done to determine the odour emission levels of 5 systems for different categories of pig that are under The Dutch Green Label standard for ammonia emission. Those systems are variations of traditional system’s with differences in the units lay-out and in some case changes also in the feeding strategies. For each systems 5 odour samples were taken in both summer and winter. The measurements and analysis were done accordingly to the newly developed protocol for animal housings odour emissions. Results showed that consistently the odour emission were higher in the summer than in the winter. The odour emissions are expressed in odour units/s per pig place and the geometric mean of each system are as follow: 10.92 for dry sows in rooms with small manure channels, 35.27 for farrowing sows in rooms with a water and a manure channel, 4.95 for weaned piglets in an optimized pen design, 14.21 for fatteners in an optimized pen design and fed with acid salts in the feed and 10.10 for fatteners in an optimized pen design and fed with multiphase feeding these two systems represent an odour emission reduction of 37% and 55% (P<0.025) respectively compare to fatteners' traditional housing. Results' analysis show that more research is needed to identify the factors that affect odour emission and the relations between odour concentration and ammonia concentration. The odour emission ratios between categories found in this experiment differ from the ones on the present regulatory system. Ways of reducing odour emissions were tested with a rigorous protocol and actual emissions were tested to complete the Green Label regulation regarding odour emission. All odour emission mechanisms are far from well understood and as mentioned, research is need.

Swine Manure Odor Control Using Pit Additives – A Review

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The literature is reviewed to provide the latest information on the development of pit manure products for the control of odor from manure. Problems that are currently being encountered in product designing and testing are presented. As the manure odor is composed of many different volatile organic compounds characterization is complicated. In past research, specific volatile acids have been identified as malodor indicators, however in recent studies, results show that such association may be misleading. An in-depth classification of the odorous compounds considering their inherent characteristics is needed. This lack of information on odours and odours compounds have contributed to the blind development of pit additive products and the fact that no a standard procedure for odour has been developed to scientifically evaluate pit additive products has restrain the development of knowledge on odour control by additives.
This publication is very interesting because it covers most of the work done on odor characterization of the odor compounds and also on the odor evaluation techniques.

Evaluation of a Wind Powered Aerator to Control Odours from a Liquid Manure Storage

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Two liquid storages on the same site received the same finishing hog manure. One of the storages was the control while the other was aerated by a wind powered mechanical system. Samples were taken at day 0, 45 and 90. Liquid samples were analyzed for BOD5, aerobic and anaerobic plate counts, total N, ammonia, and total suspended solids (TSS). Odour samples were taken at the same intervals and evaluated using as dynamic olfactometer to determine odour threshold values. Air samples taken at the start and end of the evaluation were monitored for ammonia, methane, total phenols, volatile fatty acids (VFA) and hydrogen sulphide.

Differences between the two storages were evident from the first two sets of tests. Higher odour emission potential from the control storage coincided with high BOD, phenolic and VFA concentrations. VFA was a good indicator of odour offensiveness. The test storage average level of 113 mg/l after 90 days was well below 230 mg/l, the level considered to be associated with offensive manure odours. The test storage BOD was 535 mg/l, a reduction of 23% after 90 days. the range of TSS in the test storage at various depths was greatly reduced indicating a well agitated and aerated manure storage. Flux chamber results did not coincide with odour emission potential tests. Possibly due to a 3 degree Celsius higher surface temperature in the test storage.

The wind driven aerator effectiveness maintained the odour potential of the test storage below that of the control storage in spite of receiving fresh manure weekly. The aerator in this project is a cost effective means of controlling odours from liquid manure storage.

Swine Composting Site Selection

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Composting offers an economically and environmentally souns manner of disposing of swine mortalities. Ohio’s Swine Composting Development Teams has set out four objectives for compostin swine mortalities within Ohio: (1) Protect ground water from pollution (2) Reduce the risk of the spread of disease (3) Prevent nusiances (flies, vermin, scavengers) (4) Maintain air quality.

Locating compost facilities away from water bodies can minimize th chance of water pollution from the facility. As well, diverting surface water runoff will prevent surface runoff from entering the compost facility. Compost facilities shouls also be located downwind from nearby residences or communities, preventing odours from being carried from the facility. Aesthetics, and area of site are also very important when siting a compost facility. Traffic from the compost facility to the production unit should be minimized, preventing possible disease contaimination through transport. Scavnging animals also need to be kept away from the compost. All compost facilities require all weather access. Therefore, areas around the compost facility should be firm and well drained. The state of Ohio Natural Resources Conservation Service also produces a checklist of requirements for composting facilities.

Prediction of Temperature and Humidity in a Naturally Ventilated Pig Building

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A mathematical description is given of heat- and moisture-transfer processes in a pig house, for 880
weaned piglets, equipped with natural ventilation, AYoor heating and local air cooling by means of additional humidiAzcation. Dynamic discrete auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) models, describing the air temperature and humidity inside the building and continuous models as transfer functions are derived. Experiments were performed to identify the structure and coefficients of the discrete ARMA models, using recursive prediction error (maximum-likelihood and least-squares) methods. The input and output data for the identiAzcation experiments were collected from experiments carried out over
three seasons, viz., winter, spring and summer. The structure of the discrete models was established and it was found that the dynamic properties of the heat- and moisture- transfer processes could be described using Azrstorder dynamic models. The model orders were determined by AkaikeA

Micrometeorological mass balance technique for measuring CH4 emission from stored cattle slurry

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A Differentiated Approach to Calculate Ammonia Emissions from Animal Husbandry

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In the model, 3 different housing systems are considered: a system on slurry, a system on slurry plus solid manure and deep litter system. The precision of the model is influenced by the exactitude of the hypothesis made concerning excretions, management parameters and ammonia emission rates. The total error is estimated to be of a maximum of 20% (+ or-). This type of application could be valuable as educational aid for farm advisors.

N2O, CH4 and NH3 Emissions from Composting of Swine Waste

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The experiment was done in a 52 L batch reactor. The emissions rates measured varied for ammonia from 400 to 970 g NH3-N/m3, for methane from 0,6 to 385 g CH4/m3 and for nitrous oxide from 1,9 to 71,9 g N2O-N/m3. No information is given on the C/N ratio of the mix used for composting (mature compost, saw dust and manure). No statistical analysis is presented to explain the emissions variations and the aeration treatments.

Ammonia Emissions in Farrowing-Weaning Houses with Frequent Slurry Removal System

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Testing between only two buildings make the comparison difficult as the differences could come from other factors than manure handling systems and not statistical analysis is done to allow this verification. The ventilation rates in the two buildings are different which make the comparison also difficult. Ventilation rate and air velocity (closely related) are important factors in ammonia emission rates.

Animal Production and the Environment

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Important changes occurred in the swine production in the last 40 years. Importation of feedstuffs from regions where pigs are not produced is now common. The manure produced is spread on the surrounding lands of the swine building which can lead to excessive amounts of phosphorus, copper and zinc accumulated in the soil. Intensive swine buildings can produce odors, ammonia and dusts that exceed acceptable levels. As a result, in some countries and states, new legislation try to control the animal manure use, the expansion or the localization of swine production units. The environmental consequences of the intensive swine production are presented along with nutritional means to help control the situation. Special attention is put on the Dutch experience and forthcoming legislation. Environmental constraints for the pig production that may come in the future are also discussed.

The MINAS legislation on minerals accounting system is presented. with the standards. Farms with more than 2,5 LU/ha have to submit a minerals account based on the input (supply of animals, feed, fertilizers, manure from other farms) and output (slaughter animals, milk, animal manure, crops). When certain limits for the phosphorus and nitrogen are exceeded, the farmers have to pay levies.