Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Ammonia generation in full-scale swine wastewater purification facilities

Highlights

CH₄ and N₂O emissions from pig wastewater treatment facilities were measured.

N₂O emission rate was affected by environmental conditions, location, management.

Emission factors: CH₄,0.91% (kgCH₄·kgVS⁻¹) and N₂O, 2.87% (kgN₂O-N·kgN⁻¹).

Abstract

The activated sludge process to remove nitrogen and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is reportedly cost-effective for swine wastewater treatment, and it use has thus increased in pig farming. Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is generated on farms as an intermediate product in nitrification and denitrification, and methane (CH₄) is also generated from organic degradation under anaerobic conditions by microorganisms in manure or wastewater. This study was carried out at five activated sludge treatment facilities across Japan between August 2014 and January 2015. Measurements were conducted over several weeks at wastewater purification facilities for swine farms: two in Chiba prefecture (East Japan), two in Okayama prefecture (West Japan), and one in Saga (Southern Japan). Taking several environmental fluctuations into account, we collected measurement data continuously day and night, during both high-temperature and low-temperature periods. The results indicated that CH₄ and N₂O emission factors were 0.91% (kgCH₄· kg volatile solids⁻¹) and 2.87% (g N₂O-N· kg total N⁻¹), respectively. Ammonia emissions were negligible in all of the measurements from the wastewater facilities. The N₂O emission factor calculated under this experiment was low compared to our previous finding (5.0%; g N₂O-N· kg N⁻¹) in a laboratory experiment. In contrast, the CH₄ emission factor calculated herein was rather high compared to the laboratory measurements. There was great variation in daily GHG emission factors measured in the actual wastewater treatment facilities. In particular, the N₂O emission rate was affected by several environmental conditions at each facility location, as well as by the management of the wastewater treatment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Manure / Greenhouse gas / Denitrification / BOD/N / Nitrous oxide / Methane

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Acknowledgements

We express our appreciation for the financial support from the Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Japan. This study was supported by Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, via the Commissioned project study.

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