ARS | Publication request: TECHNOLOGIES FOR RECYCLING ANIMAL MANURES

Submitted to: Annual Fertilizer Industry Round Table
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: October 28, 2002
Publication Date: October 28, 2002
Citation: HUNT, P.G., VANOTTI, M.B., SZOGI, A.A. TECHNOLOGIES FOR RECYCLING ANIMAL MANURES. CD-ROM. ANNUAL FERTILIZER INDUSTRY ROUND TABLE. 2002. 5 P.

Technical Abstract: Modern agriculture has made many improvements in the production of safe and affordable food. A significant part of this advance is effective confined animal production. In the case of swine and dairy production, the waste has been managed in varying degrees with liquid systems. Unfortunately, these systems have significant waste management challenges. This paper focuses on challenges associated with swine production that include 1) generation of large amounts of waste with its attendant pathogens, 2) anaerobic lagoon and spray field technology with its associated environmental limitations and prevalence in parts of the USA and the world, 3) N and P in excess of crop area available for disposal, and 4) potential and significant odor and ammonia emissions problems. We have made progress on development, prototype testing and full-scale implementation of a system that eliminates lagoons, separates > 90% of the solids with the aid of polyacrylamide, removes nitrogen via nitrification and denitrification with the use of polymer immobilized nitrifying bacteria, recovers P via precipitation as calcium phosphate, and kills pathogens by high pH. About 80% of the treated wastewater is recycled to the swine house, and the excess clean water is irrigated by either surface or subsurface application.