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The risk of inhalation exposure to elevated concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3) during the agitation of stored swine manure is high. Once or twice a year, farmers agitate manure before pump-out and application to fields. Agitation of the swine manure causes the short-term releases of highly toxic levels of H2S and NH3. In our previous pilot-scale studies, the biochar powder showed significant mitigation of H2S and NH3 emissions when it was surficially applied to manure immediately before agitation. However, fine biochar powder application poses hazards by itself and may not be practical to apply on a farm scale, especially when livestock and workers are present. We hypothesized that applying pelletized biochar to manure surfaces is just as effective as applying powder to protect farmers and animals from excessive exposure to H2S and NH3. This work reports on the lab-scale proof-of-the-concept trials with biochar pellets on the lab scale. The objective was to compare the biochar pellets and biochar powder on their effectiveness of mitigation on H2S and NH3 gases during 3-h-long swine manure agitation. Three scenarios were compared in (n = 3) trials: (i) control, (ii) 12.5 mm thick surficial application to manure surface of biochar powder, and (iii) an equivalent (by mass) dose of pelletized biochar applied to the manure surface. The biochar powder was bound with 35% (wt) water into ~5 × 10 mm (dia × length) pellets. The biochar powder was significantly (p< 0.05) more effective than the biochar pellets. Still, pellets reduced total H2S and NH3 emissions by ~72% and ~68%, respectively (p = 0.001), compared with ~99% by powder (p = 0.001). The maximum H2S and NH3 concentrations were reduced from 48.1 ± 4.8 ppm and 1810 ± 850 ppm to 20.8 ± 2.95 ppm and 775 ± 182 ppm by pellets, and to 22.1 ± 16.9 ppm and 40.3 ± 57 ppm by powder, respectively. These reductions are equivalent to reducing the maximum concentrations of H2S and NH3 during the 3-h manure agitation by 57% and 57% (pellets) and 54% and 98% (powder), respectively. Treated manure properties hinted at improved nitrogen retention, yet they were not significant due to high variability. We recommend scaling up and trials on the farm-scale level using biochar pellets to assess the feasibility of application to large manure surfaces and techno-economic evaluation.
Baitong Chen; Jacek Koziel; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel O’Brien; Peiyang Li; Robert Brown. Mitigation of Acute Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Emissions from Swine Manure during Three-Hour Agitation Using Pelletized Biochar. Atmosphere 2021, 12, 825 .
AMA StyleBaitong Chen, Jacek Koziel, Myeongseong Lee, Samuel O’Brien, Peiyang Li, Robert Brown. Mitigation of Acute Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Emissions from Swine Manure during Three-Hour Agitation Using Pelletized Biochar. Atmosphere. 2021; 12 (7):825.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaitong Chen; Jacek Koziel; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel O’Brien; Peiyang Li; Robert Brown. 2021. "Mitigation of Acute Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Emissions from Swine Manure during Three-Hour Agitation Using Pelletized Biochar." Atmosphere 12, no. 7: 825.
The risk of inhalation exposure to elevated concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3) during the agitation of stored swine manure is high. Once or twice a year, farmers agitate manure before pump-out and application to fields. Agitation of the swine manure causes the short-term releases of highly toxic levels of H2S and NH3. In our previous pilot-scale studies, the biochar powder had shown significant mitigation of H2S and NH3 emissions when surficially applied to manure immediately before agitation. However, fine biochar powder application poses hazards by itself and may not be practical to apply on a farm scale, especially when livestock and workers are present. We hypothesized that applying pelletized biochar to manure surface is just as effective as applying powder to protect farmers and animals from excessive exposure to H2S and NH3. This work reports on the lab-scale proof-of-the-concept trials with biochar pellets on the lab-scale. The objective was to compare the biochar pellets and biochar powder on their effectiveness of mitigation on H2S and NH3 gases during 3-hour long swine manure agitation. Three scenarios were compared in (n=3) trials (i) control, (ii) 12.5 mm thick surficial application to manure surface of biochar powder, and (iii) an equivalent (by mass) dose of pelletized biochar applied to manure surface. The biochar powder was bound with 35% (wt) water into ~5 × 10 mm (dia × length) pellets. Biochar powder was significantly (p<0.05) more effective than the biochar pellets. Still, pellets reduced total H2S and NH3 emissions by ~72% and ~68%, respectively (p=0.001), compared with ~99% by powder (p=0.001). The maximum H2S & NH3 concentrations were reduced from 48.1±4.8 ppm & 1,810±850 ppm to 20.8±2.95 ppm & 775±182 ppm by pellets, and to 22.1±16.9 ppm & 40.3±57 ppm by powder, respectively. These reductions are equivalent to reducing the maximum concentrations of H2S and NH3 during the 3-h manure agitation by 57% and 57% (pellets) and 54% and 98% (powder), respectively. Treated manure properties hinted at improved nitrogen retention, yet not significant due to high variability. We recommend scaling-up and trials on the farm-scales using biochar pellets to assess the feasibility of application to large manure surfaces and techno-economic evaluation.
Baitong Chen; Jacek Koziel; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel O'Brien; Peiyang Li; Robert Brown. Mitigation of Acute Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Emissions from Swine Manure During 3-hour Agitation Using Pelletized Biochar. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleBaitong Chen, Jacek Koziel, Myeongseong Lee, Samuel O'Brien, Peiyang Li, Robert Brown. Mitigation of Acute Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Emissions from Swine Manure During 3-hour Agitation Using Pelletized Biochar. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaitong Chen; Jacek Koziel; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel O'Brien; Peiyang Li; Robert Brown. 2021. "Mitigation of Acute Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Emissions from Swine Manure During 3-hour Agitation Using Pelletized Biochar." , no. : 1.
Rural communities are affected by gaseous emissions from intensive livestock production. Practical mitigation technologies are needed to minimize emissions from stored manure and improve air quality inside barns. In our previous research, the one-time surficial application of biochar to swine manure significantly reduced emissions of NH3 and phenol. We observed that the mitigation effect decreased with time during the 30-day trials. In this research, we hypothesized that bi-weekly reapplication of biochar could improve the mitigation effect on a wider range of odorous compounds using a larger scale and longer trials. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of biochar dose and reapplication on mitigation of targeted gases (NH3, odorous, volatile organic compounds VOCs, odor, greenhouse gases (GHG)) from stored swine manure on a pilot-scale setup over 8-weeks. The bi-weekly reapplication of the lower biochar dose (2 kg/m2) showed much higher significant percentage reductions in emissions for NH3 (33% without and 53% with reapplication) and skatole (42% without and 80% with reapplication), respectively. In addition, the reapplication resulted in the emergence of a statistical significance to the mitigation effect for all other targeted VOCs. Specifically, for indole, the percentage reduction improved from 38% (p = 0.47, without reapplication) to 78% (p = 0.018, with reapplication). For phenol, the percentage reduction improved from 28% (p = 0.71, without reapplication) to 89% (p = 0.005, with reapplication). For p-cresol, the percentage reduction improved from 31% (p = 0.86, without reapplication) to 74% (p = 0.028, with reapplication). For 4-ethyl phenol, the percentage emissions reduction improved from 66% (p = 0.44, without reapplication) to 87% (p = 0.007, with reapplication). The one-time 2 kg/m2 and 4 kg/m2 treatments showed similar effectiveness in mitigating all targeted gases, and no statistical difference was found between the dosages. The one-time treatments showed significant percentage reductions of 33% and 42% and 25% and 48% for NH3 and skatole, respectively. The practical significance is that the higher (one-time) biochar dose may not necessarily result in improved performance over the 8-week manure storage, but the bi-weekly reapplication showed significant improvement in mitigating NH3 and odorous VOCs. The lower dosages and the frequency of reapplication on the larger-scale should be explored to optimize biochar treatment and bring it closer to on-farm trials.
Baitong Chen; Jacek Koziel; Chumki Banik; Hantian Ma; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel O’Brien; Peiyang Li; Daniel Andersen; Andrzej Białowiec; Robert Brown. Mitigation of Gaseous Emissions from Stored Swine Manure with Biochar: Effect of Dose and Reapplication on a Pilot-Scale. Atmosphere 2021, 12, 96 .
AMA StyleBaitong Chen, Jacek Koziel, Chumki Banik, Hantian Ma, Myeongseong Lee, Samuel O’Brien, Peiyang Li, Daniel Andersen, Andrzej Białowiec, Robert Brown. Mitigation of Gaseous Emissions from Stored Swine Manure with Biochar: Effect of Dose and Reapplication on a Pilot-Scale. Atmosphere. 2021; 12 (1):96.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaitong Chen; Jacek Koziel; Chumki Banik; Hantian Ma; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel O’Brien; Peiyang Li; Daniel Andersen; Andrzej Białowiec; Robert Brown. 2021. "Mitigation of Gaseous Emissions from Stored Swine Manure with Biochar: Effect of Dose and Reapplication on a Pilot-Scale." Atmosphere 12, no. 1: 96.
The rural communities are affected by gaseous emissions from intensive livestock production. Practical mitigation technologies are needed to minimize emissions from stored manure and improve air quality inside barns. In our previous research, the one-time surficial application of biochar to swine manure significantly reduced emissions of NH3 and phenol. We observed that the mitigation effect decreased with time during the 30-day trials. In this research, we hypothe-sized that bi-weekly reapplication of biochar could improve the mitigation effect on a wider range of odorous compounds using larger scale and longer trials. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of biochar dose and reapplication on mitigation of targeted gases (NH3, odor-ous VOCs, odor, GHGs) from stored swine manure on a pilot-scale setup over 8-weeks. The bi-weekly reapplication of the lower biochar dose (2 kg/m2) showed much higher significant percent reductions of emissions for NH3 (33% without & 53% with reapplication) and skatole (42% without & 80% with reapplication), respectively. In addition, the reapplication resulted in the emergence of statistical significance to the mitigation effect for all other targeted VOCs. Spe-cifically, for indole, the % reduction improved from 38% (p=0.47, without reapplication) to 78% (p=0.018, with reapplication). For phenol, the % reduction improved from 28% (p=0.71, without reapplication) to 89% (p=0.005, with reapplication). For p-cresol, the % reduction improved from 31% (p=0.86, without reapplication) to 74% (p=0.028, with reapplication). For 4-ethyl phenol, the percent emissions reduction improved from 66% (p=0.44, without reapplication) to 87% (p=0.007, with reapplication). The one-time 2 kg/m2 and 4 kg/m2 treatments showed similar effectiveness in mitigating all targeted gases, and no statistical difference was found between the dosages. The one-time treatments showed significant % reductions of 33% & 42% and 25% & 48% for NH3 and skatole, respectively. The practical significance is that the higher (one-time) biochar dose may not necessarily result in improved performance over the 8-week manure storage, but the bi-weekly reapplication showed significant improvement in mitigating NH3 and odorous VOCs. The lower dosages and the frequency of reapplication on the larger-scale should be explored to optimize biochar treatment and bring it closer to on-farm trials.
Baitong Chen; Jacek A. Koziel; Chumki Banik; Hantian Ma; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel C. O'brien; Peiyang Li; Daniel S. Andersen; Andrzej Białowiec; Robert C. Brown. Mitigation of Gaseous Emissions from Stored Swine Manure with Biochar: Effect of Dose and Reapplication on A Pilot-Scale. 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleBaitong Chen, Jacek A. Koziel, Chumki Banik, Hantian Ma, Myeongseong Lee, Samuel C. O'brien, Peiyang Li, Daniel S. Andersen, Andrzej Białowiec, Robert C. Brown. Mitigation of Gaseous Emissions from Stored Swine Manure with Biochar: Effect of Dose and Reapplication on A Pilot-Scale. . 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaitong Chen; Jacek A. Koziel; Chumki Banik; Hantian Ma; Myeongseong Lee; Samuel C. O'brien; Peiyang Li; Daniel S. Andersen; Andrzej Białowiec; Robert C. Brown. 2020. "Mitigation of Gaseous Emissions from Stored Swine Manure with Biochar: Effect of Dose and Reapplication on A Pilot-Scale." , no. : 1.
The bioethanol industry continues improving sustainability, specifically focused on plant energy and GHG emission management. Dried distiller grains with solubles (DDGS) is a byproduct of ethanol fermentation and is used for animal feed. DDGS is a relatively low-value bulk product that decays, causes odor, and is challenging to manage. The aim of this research was to find an alternative, value-added-type concept for DDGS utilization. Specifically, we aimed to explore the techno-economic feasibility of torrefaction, i.e., a thermochemical treatment of DDGS requiring low energy input, less sophisticated equipment, and resulting in fuel-quality biochar. Therefore, we developed a research model that addresses both bioethanol production sustainability and profitability due to synergy with the torrefaction of DDGS and using produced biochar as marketable fuel for the plant. Our experiments showed that DDGS-based biochar (CSF—carbonized solid fuel) lower calorific value may reach up to 27 MJ∙kg−1 d.m. (dry matter) Specific research questions addressed were: What monetary profits and operational cost reductions could be expected from valorizing DDGS as a source of marketable biorenewable energy, which may be used for bioethanol production plant’s demand? What environmental and financial benefits could be expected from valorizing DDGS to biochar and its reuse for natural gas substitution? Modeling indicated that the valorized CSF could be produced and used as a source of energy for the bioethanol production plant. The use of heat generated from CSF incineration supplies the entire heat demand of the torrefaction unit and the heat demand of bioethanol production (15–30% of the mass of CSF and depending on the lower heating value (LHV) of the CSF produced). The excess of 70–85% of the CSF produced has the potential to be marketed for energetic, agricultural, and other applications. Preliminary results show the relationship between the reduction of the environmental footprint (~24% reduction in CO2 emissions) with the introduction of comprehensive on-site valorization of DDGS. The application of DDGS torrefaction and CSF recycling may be a source of the new, more valuable revenues and bring new perspectives to the bioethanol industry to be more sustainable and profitable, including during the COVID-19 pandemic and other shocks to market conditions.
Samuel O’Brien; Jacek A. Koziel; Chumki Banik; Andrzej Białowiec. Synergy of Thermochemical Treatment of Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles with Bioethanol Production for Increased Sustainability and Profitability. Energies 2020, 13, 4528 .
AMA StyleSamuel O’Brien, Jacek A. Koziel, Chumki Banik, Andrzej Białowiec. Synergy of Thermochemical Treatment of Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles with Bioethanol Production for Increased Sustainability and Profitability. Energies. 2020; 13 (17):4528.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSamuel O’Brien; Jacek A. Koziel; Chumki Banik; Andrzej Białowiec. 2020. "Synergy of Thermochemical Treatment of Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles with Bioethanol Production for Increased Sustainability and Profitability." Energies 13, no. 17: 4528.