Solids and nutrient removal from ushed swine manure using polyacrylamides

Mara Paz Prez-Sangrador, Mara Cristina Len-Cfreces, Milagros Actores-Benavente,

Mara Cruz Garca-Gonzlez
*
Agriculture Technological Institute of Castilla y Leon (ITACyL), Livestock Research Area, Carretera de Burgos, Km. 119, 47071 Valladolid, Spain
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 15 September 2009
Received in revised form
11 July 2011
Accepted 22 July 2011
Available online 18 September 2011
Keywords:
Swine manure
Solideliquid separation
Screening
Flocculation
Polyacrylamide
a b s t r a c t
Most of the organic nutrient elements (nitrogen and phosphorus) and carbon compounds in liquid swine
are contained in ne suspended particles. Flocculation treatment with polyacrylamide (PAM) followed by
screening is one the best methods to separate the liquid fraction from the solid fraction in swine manure,
and thus to eliminate nutrient elements associated with solids.
In this study, the efciency of a synthetic polyacrylamide to treat swine manure was evaluated. After
polymer treatment samples were sieved and the ltrated liquid was analyzed. TSS, VSS and COD
concentrations in the liquid fraction were 2.17, 1.93 and 16.42 g/L respectively, accounting for 94, 94 and
77% removal percentages for TSS, VSS and COD using 30 mg/L of PAM.
2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
1. Introduction
Due to the tendency to an intensive livestock and farms
concentration in some areas, the disposal of swine manure results
in a considerable problem for farmers. Among other techniques,
biological treatments have been widely developed in order to
reduce nutrients and organic matter from swine manure. However,
to improve biological treatments of swine manure (such as nitri-
cationedenitrication processes) it is necessary to previously
enhance total solids removal. The separated solids have relatively
small volume, but contain concentrated carbon and nutrient
elements and they may be utilized as animal feeding, compost
production and/or energy generation (Zhang and Lei, 1998). The
remaining liquid can be treated in order to further reduce nitrogen
and organic matter.
The use of screens to separate the solid fraction from the liquid
fraction results low effective (5%e15% of suspended solids are
removed) (Vanotti and Hunt, 1999). However, a chemical treatment
of manure enhances the removal of organic solids and nutrient
elements from the liquid manure (Zhang and Lei, 1998). Chemical
treatment is a process of aggregating suspended particles to form
settable ocs and of agglomerating coagulated particles into large,
rapidly settling ocs. For that purpose electrolytes or organic
polymers are used (Zhang and Lei, 1998). The electrolytes are
multivalent cations or inorganic salts of such metals as iron,
aluminum and calcium. These metal ions react with hydroxyl ions
and/or carbonate ions in the wastewater to form settable ocs so
that indigenous suspended particles can be made to settle together
with these newly formed ocs by sweeping actions (Tchobanoglous
and Burton, 1991). However, inorganic occulants have limited
application for animal wastewater treatment because they produce
uffy ocs, large quantity of additional solids and it is necessary
a large amount of product (Loehr, 1973; Sievers et al., 1994). Also,
they produce changes in pH which will difcult biological treat-
ments later (Vanotti and Hunt, 1999; Vanotti et al., 2002; Walker
and Kelley, 2003).
Some works have reported that the polyacrylamides (PAM) used
as occulants provide better performance than inorganic occu-
lants (Loehr, 1973; Sievers et al., 1994; Zhang and Lei, 1998). Poly-
acrylamides are macromolecules of different molecular weights
with positive, negative or neutral charges (Garca et al., 2007).
These macromolecules destabilize suspended charged particles by
adsorbing them and building bridges between suspended particles,
resulting in newer, larger particles (or ocs) that settle out of the
liquid (Vanotti and Hunt, 1999) and can be separated by screening.
Regarding solids removal, some authors have pointed out
a maximum of 95% of total suspended solids (TSS) and 79% of
chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal (Garca et al., 2007), 96%
of TSS and 74% of COD removal (Vanotti and Hunt, 1999) and 95% of
TSS and 69% of COD removal (Vanotti et al., 2002) using PAM. Thus
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 34 983 31 73 88; fax: 34 983 41 47 80.
E-mail address: gargonmi@itacyl.es (M. Cruz Garca-Gonzlez).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Environmental Management
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ j envman
0301-4797/$ e see front matter 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.07.020
Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 67e70
polyacrylamides are a good option to enhance solideliquid sepa-
ration of manure and to improve further biological treatment of the
liquid fraction.
In this study, the efciency for total suspended solids and
organic matter removal of a specic polyacrylamide named CS40
was evaluated. The goal was to obtain the minimum application
dosage in order to obtain high percentages of total solids and
organic matter removals from swine manure.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Swine manure
Swine manure used for this study was collected from a farm
located in Pajares de Adaja, Avila, Spain. Flushed manure from the
weaner and fattening houses were discharged into a homogeniza-
tion tank where swine manure samples for the sieving experiment
were collected. Swine manure used for occulation experiments
was collected from the deep pit fattening barn in order to achieve
the highest manure strength. Table 1 and Table 2 show the char-
acteristics of swine manure used in the screening and the occu-
lation experiments. Characteristics of manure were different
because they were collected from different houses.
Manure samples were transported and kept at 4

C to prevent
digestion and dissolution of solids and organic nutrients until used
in the experiments.
2.2. Sieving treatment
Manure samples were transferred into 25 L vessels and stirred at
200 rpm with a laboratory mixer to obtain homogeneous manure
sub-samples. A peristaltic pump was used to transfer 200 mL
manure sub-samples from the mixing 25 L vessels to 250 mL
Erlenmeyer asks. Each sub-sample was sieved through screens of
different mesh sizes: 1.00, 0.85, 0.50, 0.30 and 0.20-mm. Each liquid
fraction obtained after sieving was collected in beakers to be
analyzed. The analyzed parameters were pH, electrical conductivity,
TSS, volatile suspendedsolids (VSS), CODandtotal Kjeldhal nitrogen
(TKN) according to the Standard Methods for the Examination of
Water and Wastewater (APHA, 2005). The effectiveness of the
sieving treatment was determined by the difference between the
solids and organic matter in the efuent passing the sieve and in the
initial sample. The selected sieve was used for occulation experi-
ments because it provided the best performance without clogging.
2.3. Flocculation experiments
The polymer used was a commercially available dry formulation
of low-moderate charged cationic polyacrylamide, PAM CS40
(Grupo Lamirsa, Tarrassa (Barcelona)). Polymer was diluted with
tap water into 2 g/L solution prior to the occulation experiments.
The diluted polymer stock solution was allowed to set for 1 h prior
to use for the purpose of polymer aging and activation.
As previously described, 200 mL of manure sub-samples were
distributed in 250 mL Erlenmeyer asks. Increments of polymer
stock were added to each sub-sample in a dosage rage of
0e120 mg/L. After polymer addition, the samples were stirred for
2 min and allowed to settle for 30 min. Then, the occulated
samples were passed through a 0.30-mm mesh size screen,
selected from previous experiments (Table 1), and the ltrated
liquid was collected in beakers. A control sample was conducted
under similar conditions without PAMamendment. All the ltrated
samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, TSS, VSS and
COD. The most effective treatment was determined by changes in
Table 1
Retention of suspended solids and nutrients in swine manure using screens of different sizes. Data are the mean of two replicates.
Screen size (mm) TSS VSS COD TKN
Amount
retained (g/L)
Removal
TSS
a
(%)
Amount
retained (g/L)
Removal
VSS
a
(%)
Amount
retained (mg/L)
Removal
COD
a
(%)
Amount
retained (mg/L)
Removal
TKN
a
(%)
1.00 3.68(0.08) 15 4.25(0.19) 19 174(8.48) 1 96(6.36) 2
0.85 4.23(0.06) 18 3.75(0.20) 22 523(4.24) 2 170(8.48) 4
0.50 5.88(0.22) 24 4.55(0.25) 27 1047(2.12) 4 173(3.54) 5
0.30 5.98(0.08) 25 4.55(0.15) 27 1374(4.24) 5 178(3.54) 5
0.20 7.68(0.13) 32 5.95(0.24) 35 4792(4.24) 16 268(1.41) 7
Standard deviation is shown in brackets.
a
Removal efciency relative to raw manure. Raw manure characteristics were: TSS 23.98 g/L, VSS 17.05 g/L, COD 29.85 g/L, TKN 3.85 g/L, pH 7.78, electrical
conductivity 15.19 mS/cm.
Table 2
Removal of solids and COD from swine manure by CS40 occulation and screening. Data are the mean of two replicates.
Polymer
dosage (mg/L)
TSS VSS COD
Conc.
a
(g/L) Removal
efciency
b
(%)
Conc.
a
(g/L) Removal
efciency
b
(%)
Conc.
a
(g/L) Removal
efciency
b
(%)
0 18.75 (0.18) 47 15.35 (0.07) 50 46.77 (0.13) 34
4 18.70 (0.28) 47 15.05 (0.04) 51 45.62 (0.07) 36
8 17.75 (0.08) 50 14.90 (0.06) 51 40.60 (0.11) 43
12 14.80 (0.11) 58 12.10 (0.07) 60 36.70 (0.06) 49
16 12.70 (0.13) 64 10.40 (0.11) 66 32.63 (0.08) 54
20 9.65 (0.07) 73 8.10 (0.07) 73 27.29 (0.04) 62
30 2.17 (0.03) 94 1.93 (0.07) 94 16.42 (0.14) 77
40 3.10 (0.06) 91 3.00 (0.06) 90 15.01 (0.16) 78
60 2.30 (0.13) 93 2.30 (0.11) 92 14.27 (0.04) 80
80 1.80 (0.05) 95 1.80 (0.09) 94 14.96 (0.06) 79
100 2.00 (0.21) 94 2.00 (0.11) 93 10.27 (0.09) 86
120 2.10 (0.04) 94 2.10 (0.18) 93 10.35 (0.11) 85
Standard deviation is shown in brackets.
a
Concentration in the ltrated liquid after occulation treatment and sieving through a 0.30-mm mesh size sieve.
b
Removal efciency relative to raw manure. Raw manure characteristics were: TSS 35.30 g/L; VSS 30.50 g/L, COD 71.45 g/L.
M. Paz Prez-Sangrador et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 67e70 68
the concentration between raw and ltered liquid with and
without occulant.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Sieving effect
Table 1 shows the results obtained in the screening experiments
using different mesh size sieves. The data indicated that most of the
suspended solids and nitrogen were contained in ne particles.
Only 32% of TSS, 35% of VSS, 16% of total COD and 7% of TKN were
retained by the 0.20-mm mesh size screen.
In the case of Vanotti et al. (2002) and for a sieve of 0.297-mm
mesh size, similar to the sieve of 0.30-mm, the percentage of TSS
removed was 19.6%, that was lower than we have obtained (25%). It
has to be considered that TSS in our study was higher, 23.98 g/L,
than in Vanottis work (15.84 g/L). However, TKNremoval was 21.8%
(non-soluble fraction), that was quite high compared to our study
(5% total TKN). In our case, it has to be considered that the TKN
soluble fraction was very high, more than 70% (data not showed).
Data obtained in this experiment indicated that sieving alone
was not an adequate method to efciently separate the solid frac-
tion from the liquid fraction in swine manure due to ne particles
passing through the sieves. Thus in order to enhance solideliquid
separation it was necessary to improve mechanical separation and
the use of occulants could be a suitable option, as it was
demonstrated in previous works (Garca et al., 2007; Sievers et al.,
1994; Vanotti et al., 2002; Zhang and Lei, 1998), in which this
authors used PAM as occulants.
According with the results showed in Table 1, we selected the
screen of 0.30-mm mesh size to carry out the following experi-
ments. We considered that a mesh size screen lower than 0.30-mm
will not be suitable for a solideliquid separation at a farm scale due
to clogging problems, as it has been observed on the farmwhere we
have been working (data not showed).
3.2. Enhanced solideliquid separation with PAM
Inthisexperimental runs, twelvePAMconcentrations(0e120mg/L)
were applied to raw manure samples in order to reduce suspended
solids and organic matter. After PAMapplication, samples were sieved
through a 0.30-mm mesh size screen and the ltrated liquid was
recovered to be analyzed (Table 2). Removal efciences of TSS, VSS and
COD after sieving alone were quite high (TSS>47%, VSS>50%,
COD>34%) duetotheinitial rawmanurecontainedhighquantityof TSS
(35.30 g/L). TSS were composed of big particles of feed and faeces that
were retained in the 0.30-mm sieve. However, removal efciencies
increasedafter PAMapplicationandscreeningreaching94%removal of
TSS, 94% of VSS and 86% of total COD.
Results in Table 2 showed that PAM dosages higher than 30 mg/L
did not increase either the amount of retained solids or COD, thus
30 mg/L was the application concentration giving the peak yield. As
it has been reported by other authors (Vanotti et al., 2002; WERF,
1993) occulation intensity increase linearly with increasing PAM
rates upto an optimumlevel of total occulation, fromon this level
further increase of polymer dosage has little effect on suspended
solids concentration in the separated efuent (WERF, 1993).
3.3. Reduction of chemical oxygen demand with PAM
Removal of COD enhanced with PAM treatment compared to
screening alone from 34% to 77% for the optimum PAM concen-
tration (Table 2). Although COD removal efciencies were not as
high as those obtained with suspended solids, most of the COD
variation observed after polymer application was explained by
removal of occulated particles (Fig. 1). According to Garca et al.
(2009) (Garca et al., 2009), in the case of dairy manure treated
with a natural occulant (chitosan), between 92 and 99% of COD
reduction in the treated efuent was explained by the TSS removal.
Thus occulants can be used for TSS and COD reduction in different
animal slurries.
On average, 1 g of TSS separated from the liquid by occulation
treatment was associated with 1.72 g reduction of COD(0.08). The
value obtained in this experiment was higher than those obtained
in other works. Vanotti et al. (2002) reported that 1.32 g of COD was
removed for 1 g of TSS separated. Further additions of PAM did not
increase COD removal.
Large COD and TSS reductions from raw manure is important to
those livestock facilities that want to operate a biological removal
process for nitrogen reduction (ie. nitrate vulnerable zones), as well
as to reduce odor impact. Reducing suspended particles the
oxygen-demanding compounds are also removed and, therefore,
oxygen in the aeration system can be more efciently used for
ammonia conversion into nitrite and nitrate (Vanotti et al., 2001).
4. Conclusions
Based on this study, the experimental data have provided the
following conclusions:
Most of the organic nutrients in liquid swine manure were
contained in the ne suspended particles that were not sepa-
rated by mechanical separators; 25% TSS, 27% VSS, 5% total COD
and 5% TKN were separated by sieving through 0.30-mm mesh
size sieve applied to samples containing 23.98 g/L TSS
concentration.
Low-moderate charged cationic polyacrylamide polymer,
named CS40, was effective to treat animal manure.
Flocculation treatment with PAMCS40 before sieving increased
removal efciency of TSS (94%), VSS (94%) and total COD (77%).
These high removal efciencies were obtained with a PAM
application dosage of 30 mg/L.
1 g of TSS separated from the liquid by CS40 and sieving
treatment was associated with 1.72 g reduction of COD(0.08).
Acknowledgments
This research was funding by INIA (Instituto Nacional de
Investigacin y Tecnologa Agraria y Alimentaria), under the project
RTA2007-00041-00-00 Depuracin de purines: separacin con-
junta de slidos del purn y de los fangos generados tras la depu-
racin. The authors are grateful to INIA for supporting and funding,
COD = 1.8953 TSS - 4.6512
R
2
= 0.9805
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0 10 20 30 40
TSS removed (g/L)
C
O
D

r
e
m
o
v
e
d

(
g
/
L
)
Fig. 1. Relationship between the COD removed and TSS removed after CS40 treatment
and screening.
M. Paz Prez-Sangrador et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 67e70 69
to Granja San Antonio (Pajares de Adaja, vila) for helping with
manure sampling and eld experiments support, and to Lamirsa for
polymer supply.
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