Function and limits of biofilters for the removal of methane in exhaust gases from the pig industry

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2012 May;94(3):601-11. doi: 10.1007/s00253-012-3998-z. Epub 2012 Mar 22.

Abstract

The agricultural sector is responsible for an important part of Canadian greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 8 % of the 747 Mt eq. CO(2) emitted each year. The pork industry, a key sector of the agrifood industry, has had a rapid growth in Canada since the middle 1980s. For this industry, slurry storage accounts for the major part of methane (CH(4)) emissions, a GHG 25 times higher than carbon dioxide (CO(2)) on a 100-year time horizon. Intending to reduce these emissions, biofiltration, a process effective to treat CH(4) from landfills and coal mines, could be effective to treat CH(4) from the pig industry. Biofiltration is a complex process that requires the understanding of the biological process of CH(4) oxidation and a control of the engineering parameters (filter bed, temperature, etc.). Some biofiltration studies show that this technology could be used to treat CH(4) at a relatively low cost and with a relatively high purification performance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animal Husbandry / methods*
  • Animals
  • Bioreactors / microbiology*
  • Canada
  • Filtration / methods*
  • Methane / metabolism*
  • Swine

Substances

  • Methane