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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Waste Management

Evaluation of Second-Generation Multistage Wastewater Treatment System for the Removal of Malodors from Liquid Swine Waste

^a USDA-ARS, Animal Waste Management Res. Unit, 230 Bennett Ln., Bowling Green, KY 42104
^b USDA-ARS, Coastal Plains Soil, Water and Plant Res. Center, 2611 West Lucas St., Florence, SC 9501-1242

^* Corresponding author (john.loughrin{at}ars.usda.gov).

Received for publication September 26, 2008. Wastewater quality and malodors in a second generation implementation of environmentally superior technology (EST) were monitored over three cycles of pig (Sus scrofa) production and 15 mo. The wastewater treatment system consisted of three modules: solids separation, biological N removal, and P recovery/wastewater disinfection. While approximately more than 90% of the wastewater suspended solids were removed in the first stage of treatment, little reduction in malodorous compounds occurred, indicating that malodors largely remained with the liquid waste stream. The greatest improvements in wastewater quality occurred in the N treatment module where ammonium was removed through nitrification/denitrification processes: there was more than 99% reduction in aromatic malodorous compounds (e.g., p-cresol, skatole) and almost 90% reduction in volatile fatty acids (e.g., propanoate and butanoate) in N module effluent as compared to raw flushed manure. The system performed consistently well in wastewater odor removal, even during the first cycle of livestock production when system performance was being optimized. These findings showed that the combination of the processes of solids removal and biological N treatment into a practical treatment system can be very effective in reducing malodors from livestock wastewater.

Abbreviations: BOD, biological oxygen demand • CAFOs, confined animal feeding operations • COD, chemical oxygen demand • EST, environmentally superior technologies • NH₃–N, ammonia nitrogen • TKN, total Kjeldahl nitrogen • TS, total solids • TSS, total suspended solids • VFA, volatile fatty acids • VS, volatile solids • VSS, volatile suspended solids