The project addresses problems related to odors from swine production operations and to storing/treating of large volumes of water used to wash swine production structures. With the industry trend toward larger confined operations, the industry is facing increased public pressure to eliminate doors and reduce the risk of spills from large holding tanks and lagoons. Currently, wastes are treated in days-to-weeks; this projects goal is to reduce treatment time to hours-to-days using sonication (sound energy), technology currently used for wastewater treatment in the foundry, environmental and petroleum industries. This project will evaluate sonication as a cost-effective method to decontaminate and deodorize liquid swine wastes. The projects objectives are to: 1) determine levels to which sonication can clean solids-filtered wastewater; 2) define the time and energy required to reach "cleaned" levels; and 3) evaluate sonications impact on wastewater nutrients. To meet the objectives, four tasks are planned: 1) obtain and filter solids from hog-farm wastes; 2) fabricate a laboratory-scale sonication test unit; 3) conduct a test program to evaluate frequency, power and time on the liquid wastes treatment; and 4) Analysis of data and reporting. Phase I will provide data for Phase II "Development of the Closed-Loop Wastewater/Odor Treatment System".
Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications of Research: Phase I results will validate the ability of sonication to deodorize and decontaminate liquid wastes while not destroying nutrients. Process-related data on frequency, power, and time will provide baseline information for Phase II development and field testing of the closed-loop system. Phase II data will include collection of process operating information, system economics, life cycle testing, and an in-place evaluation of the innovative paper filter technology. Successful demonstration of the system will lead to fast-track commercialization. The system will be designed for scale-up, thus it can be used in small operations as well as CAFOs.
