Soil scientists Matias Vanotti and Ariel Szogi worked with Super Soil Systems USA of Clinton, N.C., to develop a second-generation system that met North Carolina’s environmental standards for manure management. As would be expected for new technologies, significant cost reductions were achieved by innovations and on-farm testing. The revamped system was two-thirds less expensive to build and operate than the first-generation system, which was tested in 2003. The new on-farm treatment system used solid-liquid separation and nitrogen and phosphorus removal processes. It removed high levels of several pollutants from manure wastewater, including almost all of the pathogens, odor-causing constituents and ammonia. Replacing anaerobic-lagoon-based systems with the new technology also reduced
greenhouse gas emissions by 97 percent. The new technology could help swine-producing states protect existing
jobs and keep the door open for future job expansion. This technology was featured in a chapter of “Manufacturing Climate Solutions: Carbon- Reducing Technologies and U.S. Jobs,” published in 2008 by Duke University’s Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness.