Effect of anaerobic digestion on odor and ammonia emission from land-applied cattle manure

Yolanda M Lemes; Tavs Nyord; Anders Feilberg; Sasha D Hafner; Johanna Pedersen

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117815

Effect of anaerobic digestion on odor and ammonia emission from land-applied cattle manure

J Environ Manage. 2023 Jul 15:338:117815. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117815. Epub 2023 Apr 2.

Authors

Yolanda M Lemes¹, Tavs Nyord¹, Anders Feilberg¹, Sasha D Hafner¹, Johanna Pedersen²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.
² Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic address: jp@bce.au.dk.

PMID: 37015144
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117815

Abstract

High ammonia (NH₃) and odor emission can occur after land application of liquid animal manure. This study was aimed at evaluating NH₃ loss and odor nuisance after field application of cattle manure and how it is affected by two anaerobic digestion strategies: i) digestion of cattle manure alone and ii) digestion with catch crops and dilution by water. A system of dynamic chambers with online measurements of NH₃ and odorous compounds (summarized as odor activity value, OAV) was used. Two experiments were conducted under different temperature conditions. The results demonstrated that anaerobic digestion did not affect NH₃ loss but did decrease OAV. Addition of catch crops and water to the digestion process reduced both NH₃ loss and OAV. Cool temperature in one of the experiments had a large effect on both NH₃ and odor emissions, and at high temperature the differences between treatments increased.

Keywords: Biogas digestate; Dynamic chambers; Online measurement; PTR-TOF-MS; Wind tunnels.

MeSH terms

Ammonia* / analysis
Anaerobiosis
Animals
Cattle
Crops, Agricultural
Manure*
Odorants

Substances

Manure
Ammonia