Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality Odor Emission Reduction from Enclosed Growing-Finishing Pig House Using Different Biofilter Media

J.I. Song, Y.H. Yoo, T.I. Kim, Antonio J. Barroga, H.C. Choi, J.W. Jeong, K.Y. Yeon, C.B. Yang, D.H. Kim, and J.W. Lee RDA – National Livestock Research Institute, Suwon, 441-350, Korea; Department of Animal Science, Central Luzon State University, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines Department of Animal Resources Technology, Chinju National.University; Gyeongnam Province Advanced Swine Research Institute. Abstract This study was conducted to determine the odor reduction efficiency of a biofilter design using different filter materials. The summary of results are as follows; 1.The airflow penetration rate of the different filter materials namely; rice straw, woodchips, rice hulls and sawdust were 0.72 m/s, 0.64 m/s, 0.48 m/s and 0.17 m/s, respectively. 2. Compared to a pig barn with no biofilter, NH3 emission was reduced by 77 % using a biofilter media of sawdust and wood chip followed by rice hull and rice straw with a removal efficiency of 69% and 46%, respectively. Based on a two bi-weekly monitoring of NH3 emission, wood chips as a biofilter media proved to be the most superior and consistent in reducing this gas due to removal efficiencies of 76 %, 55% and 76% for days 7, 14 and 36 respectively. On the other hand, rice hull was the most effective among biofilter media in reducing H2S with 86.27 % removal efficiency during a two consecutive bi-weekly monitoring period. The above findings also demonstrated that H2S could be easily trapped/absorbed effectively by all the biofilter media than NH3. Finally, the airflow penetration rate of the different biofilter media tended to be related to odor elimination efficiency with having the slowest penetration rate of 0.17 m/s.