ARS | Publication request: REDUCTION OF AMMONIA EMISSIONS FROM SWINE LAGOONS USING IMPROVED TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 12, 2006
Publication Date: November 12, 2006
Citation: Szogi, A.A., Vanotti, M.B. 2006. Reduction of ammonia emissions from swine lagoons using improved treatment technologies [abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2006 International Meetings, November 12-16, 2006, Indianapolis, Indiana. 2006 CDROM.

Technical Abstract: Treatment technologies can effectively remove nitrogen (N) from liquid swine manure. We conducted a study to determine the effects of alternative wastewater treatments on ammonia emissions from lagoons. This determination was done at full-scale in three contiguous swine production units that had similar animal production management. Two of these units were retrofitted with improved treatment technology and the other was a control that had the traditional anaerobic treatment method. In the second production unit, liquid manure received a solid-liquid separation treatment before lagoon storage. In the third production unit, a full-scale wastewater treatment plant consisting of solid-liquid separation, biological N removal and phosphorus removal produced a clean effluent that in turn converted the old lagoon into a water storage pond. Passive flux samplers were used to measure simultaneously the ammonia gas fluxes from the traditional anaerobic lagoon and the lagoons receiving treated wastewater. Ammonia emissions from the traditional anaerobic lagoon (control) totaled 12,540 kg N/yr (13,633 kg N/ha/yr). This compares to lower ammonia emissions of 3,355 kg N/yr (or 3,647 kg N/ha/yr) from the anaerobic lagoon with solid-liquid separation (73% reduction), and 1,210 kg N/yr (or 1,311 kg N/ha/yr) from the converted lagoon (90% reduction). These results overall demonstrate that alternative new wastewater technologies can substantially reduce ammonia emissions from confined swine production.