A novel separation system removes solids from pig effluent more effectively thanother systems in common use

摘要

About 40% of Australia's piggeries use anaerobic lagoons (ponds) to manage liquid waste, but associated maintenance and infrastructure costs can be significant. Also, methane from treatment ponds accounts for as much as 60-70% of greenhouse gases emitted across the Australian pork supply chain (Wiedemann etal. 2009). Lastly, ponds can be a significant odour source. Forthese reasons, there is interest in pondless effluent management systems that can recover manure as solids prior to substantial fermentation, thereby producing a solid cake for co-composting and a low-strength liquid waste (filtrate) for treatment in smaller less costly ponds or for direct recycling as flush water, thus creating a closed-loop system. The aim of this study was to evaluate a potentially pondless system consisting of a novel de-watering/filtering system, the Z-Filter (Z-Filter Pty Ltd, WA), on farm at a commercial pig shed housing 1,200 pigs aged 10 to 22 weeks.