Task 1 - Develop and evaluate innovative applications of engineered biological treatment processes to stabilize waste, reduce odor, and manage nutrients.
Task 2 - Develop and evaluate vegetated or aquaculture-based treatment systems for treating wastewater or runoff from concentrated feeding operations or land application sites.
Task 3 - Develop and evaluate physical and chemical treatments for recovering or stabilizing manure solids or manure treatment by-products for improved utilization alternatives.
Task 4 - Develop and evaluate biological or thermochemical treatment of animal manures for conversion into value-added products.

Biological treatment systems that use aerobic, anaerobic and/or anoxic treatment will be studied at lab, pilot, and field scale.  Treatment systems will be researched mainly for dairy (HI, CA, FL and GA) and swine (AL, LA, OR and NC).  Procedures will include monitoring of typical waste treatment parameters such as chemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, nitrogen and phosphorus, but also odor reduction and pathogen destruction in some cases.  Nutrient balances, especially for nitrogen and phosphorus, will be attempted in order to determine utilization potential for by-products.  Researchers will be able to compare treatment efficiency, operational requirements, and costs for the various treatment alternatives.

Activated thermophilic aerobic digestion prior to mesophilic anaerobic digestion, and a dual biological fixed bed reactor will be researched for diluted or liquid dairy manure treatment and wastewater reuse (HI).  Also, a microbial fingerprinting method for cattle (ruminant) waste will be developed using culture and gene probe techniques to measure microorganisms, which are characteristically found in intestines of cattle and other ruminants.  This can be a tool to help assess public health issues involved in the reuse of the final treated effluent as well as impact of any product discharges.  CA scientists will evaluate an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) and aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for dairy manure treatment; the evaluation will include determining extent of pathogen destruction.  In FL, a fixed-film anaerobic digester for flushed dairy manure will be evaluated for treatment efficiency, odor reduction and pathogen reduction.  A GA study will use a vertical drainage drying bed as primary treatment of flushed dairy manure, then the liquid will be anaerobically digested, and digester effluent will serve as a nutrient source for nutrient film hydroponics forage production.  Two-stage biological anoxic/anaerobic treatment of swine wastewater will be studied at field scale (LA).

Swine lagoon liquid will be treated with diffused air and microbial augmentation in a partitioned pond before recycling for flushing swine manure (NC).  Flushed swine manure will be treated with an upflow aerated biological filter after separation of coarse solids.  Effluent will be recycled for flushing.  Measures of odor, ammonia emission and pathogens will be performed.

A floating permeable cover for liquid manure lagoons and storages will be developed by OR scientists, with the goal to reduce ammonia emissions by 80 % and methane emissions by 50 % when compared to conventional treatment options.

A partitioned aquaculture system will be evaluated for algae and fish production and treatment of feedlot runoff (SC).  Also, vegetated (grass and forest) filters (GA) and riparian buffers (MD) will be evaluated for treatment of runoff from land receiving animal manure.  Methods will include flow rates and concentrations to determine mass balances and removal efficiencies for solids, nitrogen and phosphorus.

The long-term treatment of poultry lagoon liquid in a two-cell constructed wetland will continue in AL.  This system has been in continuous operation since 1992. Vegetated wetlands will also be researched for treatment of swine lagoon liquid.  In FL, vegetated wetlands and overland flow systems will be evaluated for treatment of dairy farm runoff and anaerobic lagoon effluent.

(SC)  A partitioned aquaculture system (PAS) will be modified to provide a high rate of agricultural waste nutrient uptake and conversion into algae and high value fish and shellfish, offsetting the investment and operating cost of the water and waste treatment system.  Four 0.5-acre high-rate algal/filter-feeder co-culture basins will be evaluated for application in treating concentrated agricultural wastewaters and watershed surface waters.

Several institutions will study runoff characteristics from a variety of soils, vegetative covers, and buffers.  Movement of Cryptosporidium parvum and E. coli through soil and over vegetative filter strips will be evaluated by laboratory soil bed tests and by field measurements.  Field tests will be performed in three states (IL, KS, VA) on existing filter strips.  Experimental results will be used to develop models predicting transport and attenuation of the pathogens, and best management practices for the use of vegetative filter strips and tile drainage in pathogen removal.  In GA, reduction of nitrogen, phosphorus, and chloride in runoff from areas receiving swine lagoon liquid based on either nitrogen or phosphorus content will be evaluated for vegetated buffers (10 m of grass and 30 m of forest).  Scientists in MD will evaluate the use of available databases to quantify potential value of riparian forest buffers for the purpose of targeting areas for incentive programs.

Various pilot and field scale projects will use physical means (e. g., screen or centrifuge) to separate solids from flushed manure or from anaerobic lagoon sludge.  Amendments such as hydrated lime or polyacrylamides will be tested for improving separation.  Chemical amendments will also be tested for immobilizing phosphorus when applying manure to land.  In addition, precipitation of phosphorus as a salt (struvite) will be tested for removing phosphorus from flushed dairy manure and swine lagoon liquid.  For farms or regions that cannot effectively utilize manure nutrients and biosolids on nearby crops, separation of solids is necessary to make a more concentrated product for potential transport off farm.  For farms that have accumulated high levels of phosphorus in soil, removal of phosphorus or immobilization of the phosphorus in manure applications may be necessary to allow continued application of manure.

In MD, poultry litter will receive various amendments to immobilize phosphorus when applying to land.  Nutrient losses from stockpiled litter will also be evaluated.

Chemical amendments for immobilizing phosphorus and separating organic solids will be researched for swine waste (TN and WI), dairy wastewater, storm water or final-stage lagoon liquid (TX and FL), and swine lagoon liquid (NC).  A variety of amendments will be tested, with economic considerations and applications for separated products being a strong focus of the systems being studied.

CA experiments will evaluate several methods for solid-liquid separation and pathogen reduction for flushed dairy manure.  Screening and sedimentation will be examined in the laboratory and in the field.  A vertical drainage drying bed will be evaluated in GA for removing solids from flushed dairy manure, and compared to other technologies (screening and gravity separators).  FL scientists will study mechanical solids separation and sand separation for dairy farm wastewaters.  In TN, solids/liquid separation and nutrient partitioning with a screw press will be evaluated for a range of total solids in flushed dairy manure.

Two universities will study improved ways to manage treatment lagoons.  In AL, a pumping and filtration system will be developed and tested for removal of the lower sludge layer in aged animal waste anaerobic lagoons without disturbance of the supernatant.  Two removal methods will be tested: a submersible solids handling pump and a modified swimming pool bottom cleaner.  The sludge will be concentrated using an automatic blow-down screen filter.  Characteristics of the material for agronomic purposes will be evaluated.  Sludge from a swine anaerobic lagoon (NC) will be pumped with a sewage pump to a centrifuge.  Efficiency of solids removal will be tested without amendment or with addition of hydrated lime.  A reactor will be designed and tested at lab scale for struvite precipitation to remove phosphorus from swine anaerobic lagoon liquid.  Test variables will include flow rate, pH, and magnesium addition.
 

Several institutions will study ways to utilize manure in nontraditional ways: as liquid chemical feedstocks, as dry fuel used alone or blended with fossil fuels, and as value-added compost.  The focus will be on building integrated systems that are economically viable.

Thermochemical conversion of liquid swine manure to crude oil will move toward a pilot scale project (IL) and include economic evaluations as well as applications for the oil product.  Results to date suggest the oil product can be used as a fuel or as a chemical feedstock to replace crude petroleum.  Methods will be explored for integrating a manure processing plant with animal production facilities.

In TX cattle feedlot manure and broiler litter will be used as a biomass fuel with coal or lignite in 10:90 or 20:80 blends (biomass:coal or lignite) for combustion experiments for energy production and beneficial utilization of manure as an alternative to land application of manure in nutrient enriched watersheds.  The fuels will also be evaluated as a reburn fuel for NOx and SOx reduction a coal-fired or lignite power plant situation.  Experiments will be conducted both small scale and at a large pilot plant.  In an AR experiment, broiler litter will be blended with green hardwood sawdust and/or wood pellets as a biomass fuel.  Heat from combustion will be used for space heating broiler houses during brooding.  Experiments will quantify combustion efficiency, exhaust gas composition and ash production/utilization.

Studies in LA will focus on matching available substrates such as sugar cane bagasse, rice straw or hulls, wood chips or paper mill wastes with aquacultural wastes in each area of the state.  Composting technologies will be investigated, and automated instrumentation for measurement and control of composting systems will be built.  Processing of screened dairy manure solids and solids removed by chemical treatments in a plate clarifier will be studied for possible conversion of dairy manure solids into a potting media product for the plant nursery industry using a drum composter (FL).

Alternative technologies will be evaluated in OR for capturing nutrients from manure in a sufficiently stable and concentrated form to allow them to be economically transported to an alternate watershed that is nitrogen and/or phosphorus deficient.