System Ecotechnologies Inc. has developed a hog manure treatment process (SEI Hog Manure Treatment Technology) which has the following environmental and economic benefits: significantly reduces odours from hog manure, produces recyclable clear water, produces nutrient-rich biosolids (sludge), recovers ammonia as a separate product usable as a fertilizer, eliminates E.Coli in the treated liquid and biosolids, eliminates the production of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from manure after treatment, and offers a better control on the use and disposal of treated liquid and biosolids. System Ecotechnologies Inc. received funding from Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative (MLMMI), Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, and CETAC-WEST which administered the funds from TEAM – Climate Change Action Fund, and the Western Economic Diversification (WD) of Government of Canada, to conduct this technology demonstration. The technology demonstration was conducted at the following hog operations in Manitoba: Landmark – Nevin Friesen’s farm coordinated by Elite Swine Inc., Niverville – Coordinated by Puratone Inc., Starlite Colony – Coordinated by James Hofer of Starlite Colony; Saskatchewan: St. Denis – Quadra Group; Ontario: London – Van Gorp Farm coordinated by Case and Jeff Van Gorp. Open houses were conducted at Landmark, Starlite Colony and London which were well attended by the print and broadcast media, hog operators and representatives from the hog industry (Manitoba Pork, Ontario Pork) and the government regulatory agencies. The technology demonstration received extensive media coverage which brought a number of enquiries from hog farmers from Canada, USA and Ireland for commercially implementing the technology. Dr. Qiang (Chong) Zhang of the Department Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba was consulted to evaluate the reduction in the odours in the manure due to the treatment process. Dr. Zhang and his team visited the site and took samples of raw (untreated) manure and the treated liquid for the laboratory evaluation using the ‘Dynamic Dilution Olfactometer’ and a panel of six screened assessors. Samples of untreated manure and samples of liquid and biosolids after treatment were taken after each demonstration and sent for analysis. They were analyzed for BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), TKN (Total Kjledahl Nitrogen), total phosphorus, total potassium, total sulphur for all samples. Samples were also sent to the Saskatchewan Research Council for bacterial analysis in terms of total coliforms and E.Coli.
The following summarizes the data obtained from these demonstrations: Clear recyclable water was consistently produced at all sites, the odour was reduced by more than 98% in the treated water compared to the raw manure, the bacterial contamination in terms of E.Coli and total coliforms was eliminated after treatment both in the treated manure and the biosolids, as a percentage of the raw manure nutrient content, the biosolids produced by the treatment contained 100% of phosphorus, about 55 to 89% of nitrogen, about 37 to 92% of potassium and about 47 to 84% of sulphur, the nitrogen content in the treated liquid was low, at less than 14%. It was possible to reduce this further to almost zero by allowing the sample to be exposed to air, the BOD in the treated liquid varied from a low of 5 mg/l to a high of 2500 mg/l, while the BOD values in the raw manure ranged from 30,000 to 45,000 mg/l, and the volume of biosolids produced by the treatment ranged from about 5 to 10 % depending upon the raw manure solids content.