Mitigation of Odor, NH3, H2S, GHG, and VOC Emissions With Current Products for Use in Deep-Pit Swine Manure Storage Structures

Abstract

Odorous gas emissions from swine production have been a concern for neighbors and communities near livestock farms. Manure storage is one of the main sources of gaseous emissions. Manure additive products are marketed as a simple solution to this environmental challenge. Manure additives are user-friendly for producers and can be applied (e.g., periodically poured into manure) without changing the current manure storage structure. Little scientific data exist on how these products perform in mitigating gaseous emissions from swine manure. The research objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of 12 marketed manure additives on mitigating odor, ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), greenhouse gases (GHG), and odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from stored swine manure. A controlled pilot-scale setup was used to conduct 8-week long trials using manufacturer-prescribed dosages of additives into swine manures. Manure was outsourced from three swine farms to represent a variety of manure storage types and other factors affecting the properties. Measured gaseous emissions were compared between the treated and untreated manure. None of the tested products showed a significant reduction in gaseous emissions when all (n = 3) manures were treated as replicates. Selected products showed a wide range of statistically-significant reduction and generation of gaseous emissions when emissions were compared in pairs of manure types from one farm. The latter observation highlighted the lack of consistent mitigation of gaseous emissions by manure additives. The results of this study do not warrant full-scale trials with the tested products.

Comparing Biochar-Swine Manure Mixture to Conventional Manure Impact on Soil Nutrient Availability and Plant Uptake—A Greenhouse Study

“…Stage 1-biochar is surficially applied to stored manure, where it mitigates the perennial environmental problem, i.e., gaseous emissions of odor and air pollutants [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Biochar fits a need since many marketed manure additives have not been proven effective [28]. Stage 2-the manure-biochar mixture is applied to farmed land as a value-added fertilizer, with the potential to improve soil OM and plant-available nutrients (NO 3 − , NH 4 + , P, and K) while lowering the risk of nutrient leaching loss [20].…”

Mitigation of Gaseous Emissions from Stored Swine Manure with Biochar: Effect of Dose and Reapplication on a Pilot-Scale

“…Small doses of manure additives can be easily applied to manure without changes to the current waste management structures. However, in recent research, 12 commercial manure additives did not show significant impacts on the targeted gases in controlled side-by-side trials [5,6]. Thus, there is still a need to develop and test manure additives that are adaptable to current animal farming systems.…”

Mitigation of Acute Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Emissions from Swine Manure during Three-Hour Agitation Using Pelletized Biochar

“…Researchers have shown the effective H 2 S and NH 3 reduction with calcium hydroxide, sodium nitrate, and hydrogen peroxide treatments at the lab scales, but the potential of scaling up to real farm application was limited by the economics [17][18][19]. A recent comprehensive evaluation of marketed manure additive products for controlling odor emissions and nutrient losses did not show statistically significant mitigation of H 2 S and NH 3 [20]. Thus, there is a need to mitigate the safety concerns and gaseous emissions representing the loss of nutrients and manure value as a fertilizer.…”