Effects of SOP Lagoon Additive on Gaseous Emissions from Stored Liquid Dairy Manure

Abstract

Animal manure is a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other pollutants and nuisances such as ammonia and odors. There are several technologies to reduce emissions on animal farms including manure additives; however, few have been proven effective and easy to apply to dairy lagoon systems. The present research aimed at testing the ability of the commercial additive “SOP LAGOON” to reduce emissions of GHGs (i.e., carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)), as well as ammonia (NH3) and odors from lagoon stored liquid manure. Emissions of GHGs, NH3 and odors were measured in the laboratory from barrels filled with 65 L of manure treated with SOP LAGOON or left untreated as a control. Manure was collected from a commercial dairy that is located in Solano County, California. Emissions of GHGs and NH3 were continuously measured for one week using flux chambers placed on top of the barrels and connected to a mobile air emissions laboratory. The effects of the untreated control, versus the two respective treatment additive doses of 30.8 and 61.6 g/m3 of manure were compared to each other. The low dose was selected based on the manufacturer recommendation and the high dose was selected by doubling the low dose. Results showed that SOP LAGOON applied at the high dose (61.6 g of SOP LAGOON per m3 of manure) versus the control greatly reduced (p < 0.05) emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O and NH3 by 14.7%, 22.7%, 45.4% and 45.9%, respectively. Furthermore, the high dose of SOP LAGOON treated samples versus the control samples showed less odor intensity (p < 0.05). There was no significant effect of the low dose of SOP LAGOON on the emissions of different gases. The HIGH dose of SOP LAGOON might decrease the number of methanogens and hydrolytic microorganisms and their excreted enzymes during manure storage. Further studies are needed to investigate the mechanism of emission reduction using SOP LAGOON.

Effect of SOP “STAR COW” on Enteric Gaseous Emissions and Dairy Cattle Performance

“…However, a synergistic effect of the components in SOP has never been researched for CH 4 mitigation. Borgonovo et al (2019) and Peterson et al (2020) [31,32] found that gypsum processed with SOP's proprietary technology reduced NH 3 and GHG emissions in liquid manure with a much lower dosage of gypsum than reported previously [33]. However, this same effect with low doses was not seen in the current study.…”

Sustainability of the Dairy Industry: Emissions and Mitigation Opportunities

“…Borgonovo et al first tested the gypsum-based commercial additive, "SOP LAGOON, " on fresh dairy manure and found the additive to be effective in reducing direct NH 3 and GHG emissions, including a significant mitigation of CH 4 emissions (Borgonovo et al, 2019). Recent literature by Peterson et al applied SOP Lagoon to liquid stored dairy cattle manure over a 2 week period and found similar results including significant reductions in NH 3 emissions (22.7% for the supplemented systems as compared with an unsupplemented control) (Peterson et al, 2020). With the strong literature documenting the potential for gypsum to decrease CH 4 emissions, this seems like a viable manure amendment strategy.…”

Efficacy of a vermifilter at mitigating greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions from dairy wastewater

“…All emission measurements were done in triplicate, in separate flux chambers, and on site. Previous studies have used this flux chamber method to measure manure emissions (Joo et al., 2012; Park et al., 2010; Peterson et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2014).…”