Swine Wastewater Effluent Trial

Introduction

Swine producers face an ever-increasing market demand for their products which necessitates an efficient waste management system to dispose of manure generated by its livestock. Farmers are left to consider several factors while running their operation including, the impact of waste management and its by-products on their animals, facility operators, and the surrounding community’s health, all while keeping pace with current odor and nutrient excess reduction regulations.

Traditional industrial-scale swine waste management systems rely on microbes already present in the system, in combination with chemical treatments, to break down organic matter. The native bacteria are often inefficient at total waste digestion and large amounts of noxious odors are generated. These malodors present health concerns to humans, as well as animals. High effluent BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and treatment chemicals that remain in the effluent may cause upset if discharged into the environment or used in field irrigation.

CHEMTECH scientists have developed a consortium of bacteria that excels at degrading organic waste and reduces malodor, such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. The application of these bacteria help swine farmers maintain the balance of high production outputs with legal and environmental limits, resulting in improved conditions for all involved.

Trial Purpose

A trial at a third-party laboratory on industrial swine production facility effluents. The goal was to confirm the effectiveness of CHEMTECH’s proprietary bacterial cultures in reducing BOD and odors caused by ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.

Dosing

The test compared the effects of a 1ppm (part per million) dose of CHEMTECH SWT (Swine Waste Treatment) 100B, a highly concentrated powder product, and the recommended initial dose of 5ppm.

Testing

The trial was performed on raw field swine wastewater samples after solids separation under conditions matching the facility’s effluent management strategy.

Samples were maintained in Erlenmeyer bioreactors with temperature and pressure control. No aeration or agitation was provided. Ammonia, BOD, and hydrogen sulfide levels were quantified at test initiation, 24-hours, and then every 48-hours over 15 days using Hach spectrophotometric methodology.

Each data point was derived from the average of
10 samples.

Results

Impactful images of the graphed data at the right (Figures 1, 2, and 3) show impressive reduction of ammonia, BOD, and hydrogen sulfide levels when field samples were treated with 5ppm of CHEMTECH’s bacterial blend. While still exhibiting positive results, the 1ppm treatment shows a lesser reduction of the three tested parameters.

The initial dose of 5ppm, CHEMTECH SWT 100B exhibit reduction of ammonia by 99 percent, BOD by 99 percent, and hydrogen sulfide by 80 percent.

Summary

This trial confirms the remarkable capability of CHEMTECH’s microbial blend to address the challenges of industrial swine operations waste processing without the use of harsh chemicals. After treatment with the product’s recommended 5ppm dose, concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, as well as BOD, began to decrease rapidly as early as Day 2 of the study. In addition, the treatment demonstrated reductions to minimal levels by Day 9 that remained low until the completion of the study. The significantly improved performance of the 5ppm dose over the 1ppm dose highlights the importance of proper dosing for maximum effectiveness.

This third-party study supports the previous trials conducted by CHEMTECH at a 1,000-animal hog farm. CHEMTECH’s research team reported equally impressive reduction results when following the products suggested dosing protocol.