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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Respirator protection and acceptability among agricultural workers.
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 1995 | No Comments
Results are presented of field determinations of effectiveness (workplace protection factor; WPF) and acceptability (questionnaire responses) by respirator users in indoor swine production, poultry production, and grain handling facilities. Dust mass and endotoxin in air samples collected over 4 hours outside the mask and inside the mask were compared to yield the WPF. Disposable respirators had a mean WPF of 13; quarter-mask respirators, 22; half-mask respirators, 19; and powered air purifying helmets, 30. These values are generally less than laboratory-based measures of effectiveness but similar to other field data. Acceptability among these four classes of respirators varied among the three user groups: poultry operators preferred the powered helmet; grain handlers preferred the half-mask; and swine producers were split between the quarter-mask and half-mask respirators. Fully disposable masks were preferred by only 20 to 22 percent of the workers in each setting. Among all groups of workers, powered helmets were rated best for breathing ease, communication ease, skin comfort, and in-mask temperature and humidity, while disposables were rated best for weight and convenience. However, in all but one of the above acceptability characteristics, the opposite respirator was given the worst rating. Thus, the reusable quarter-mask or half-mask is most often the best compromise.
Effects of Intermittent-cycle Extended-aeration Treatment on the Fate of Nutrients, Metals and Bacterial Indicators in Pig Slurry
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The experiment was done on the liquid part of separated manure in order to treat it with an activated-sludge treatment that would produce an effluent that could be disposed by irrigation or for direct discharge to the water-course. The treatment reduces the nutrients content, however the pathogen indicators remains relatively high and the effluent cannot be used directly for irrigation or directly discharge to the water-course. Two products (effluent, and solids resulting from the separation) have to be disposed and evaluated for their nutrient content and two different types of equipment may be needed to handle the liquid part and to handle the sludge
Waste engineering
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Waste engineering in Silsoe covers many different projects related to the reduction of emission and pollution control. This research team is very active and their work is centered on the understanding of the processes involve in emission and pollution.
– Experiments were conducted with a novel Odours and Emissions Chamber (OEC) to collect data on different factors (temperature, wind speed and slurry mixing) affecting emissions. Those data will be used in mathematical models. As an example, they fund that with a wind of 1 to 5 m/s ammonia emissions from exposed pig manure surface can be as high as 3 to 5 g/m2-day. OEC has also been used to measure the methane emissions from the grazing animals’ dung and urine and the highest emissions can be measured for wet, warm and high wind conditions.
– Aerobic treatments of pig manure have also been tested. Except for the pathogen numbers reduction, the continuous treatment is more interesting when it comes to cost, control and consistency. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) can be reduced to almost 50% by a 20 days mesophilic (20-40 C) treatments as for a thermophilic (50-60 C) aeration the diminution in COD is not significantly different but this process lead to up to 25% of nitrogen lost as ammonia emissions. Continuous mesophilic treatments or at least 3 days with sufficient aerated regimes enable the nitrification of almost all the ammoniacal nitrogen by conversion to nitrites or nitrates. However 70% of the original nitrogen in the manure can be denitrified and lost emissions of gaseous nitrogen or nitrous oxide when the aeration regime is lower or periodic.
– New techniques have been developed such as a manure analysis by high performance liquid chromatography and for gaseous measurements during denitrification, a mass spectrometric method.
– A stratification treatment process which aerate the manure has been tested and the manure can be recycled for excreta flushing in the swine building resulting in a reduction of the ammonia concentrations by 50%.
– Packing materials have been tested to minimize the cost of biofilter that are used to treat the ventilated air from the animal buildings. The materials are selected considering their good biological performances and the low pressure gradients they produce.
Their research programs are very interesting and cover many aspects of environmental control by studies and treatments on emissions and manure treatments. This research team seems to be well connected to the research made in Europe with their joined projects with other countries.
Identification of oils to be sprinkled in livestock buildings to reduce dust.
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Sprinkling a small amount of mineral oil onto the floor area in a livestock building has been demonstrated as an effective method to reduce dust concentration. The objective of this study was to evaluate mechanical properties of different types of oils sprinkled at different temperatures and pressures. Six biological oils (purified canola, crude canola, corn, sunflower, flax, and soybean) and one mineral oil (baby oil) were evaluated at temperatures between 10 and 45oC (50 and 104oF). Density and viscosity of the oils were measured using a viscometer. Sprinkleability in terms of droplet diameter and uniformity was measured under different pressures using a computer image processing system and a microscope. Oil mist at the animal and human breathing levels (o0.1, 0.8, and 1.6 M [0.33, 2.62, and 5.25 ft] above floor) were examined during, and 10 seconds after, oil sprinkling. Proper oil sprinkling should be carried out at a pressure and temperature that produces oil droplets smaller than an upper threshold diameter (UTD) to ensure good sprinkleability, but larger than a lower threshold diameter (LTD) to avoid producing oil mist. Optimum ranges of temperature and pressure for each type of oil are recommended.
Surface Application of Liquid Swine Manure: Chemical Variability
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A Study of the Potential Contribution of Sedimentation to Aerobic Treatment Processes for Pig Slurry
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No information is given on the economics of such systems. Two products have to be disposed and evaluated for their nutrient content and two different types of equipment may be needed to handle the liquid part and to handle the sludge.
Sensing odours – the electronic nose
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A sensor is being developped using a highly sensitive new polypyrrole-based material which detects odorant levels of less than 1 ppm. In the development of the sensor, the data manipulation and interpretation are as important as the development itself to fulfill the electronic nose capabilities.
The sensor response has shown that distinctive patterns are identifiable and associated to different types of pig manure. These positives results could help linking odour to chemical compounds with the use of the electronic nose.
More research should be done on this type of technology to give and reliable and more easy way of evaluating odours. Quite a bit of work have to be done to reach that point.