This is an overview of the Strategic Research Initiative on Swine Odor and Waste Management funded 1998 through 2003 by the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR). Individual projects combined to focus variously on the Initiative's specific objective: To support continued development of an environmentally sustainable, socially acceptable, economically viable U.S. swine industry through a broad, integrated research program addressing issues of swine odor and manure management.

A total of 29 projects, ranging in duration from 1 to 5 years, were conducted by scientists from 11 Illinois units, institutions, and agencies in the areas of odor measurement, control, and management; system design and management; nutrition; manure processing and handling; and community considerations and legal issues.

The Initiative's 19 primary goals included new approaches to minimizing impacts of swine production; proper methods of volatile organic compounds (VOC)-, odor-, dust-, and gas samplings-characterization, and -identification; models on nutrient flow, production systems, and environmental determinants of odor emissions; models to improve facility siting and manure application; develop dedusters, wet scrubbers, and catalytic converters to reduce dust and gaseous emissions; center for testing and evaluating devices and processes in a simulated industry production setting; various viable nutritional approaches to reducing excretion of phosphorus and other materials contributing to manure mass and formation of VOC; various viable manure-processing technologies to reduce manure volume, enhance odor control, reduce soil, ground, and water pollution, and develop a variable-rate slurry applicator; database on swine manure and odor; understand public reactions to large-scale swine operations; analyze and create a database of federal and state laws and court decisions governing swine odor and manure issues; and communication of up-to-date information and recommendations to various stakeholder clusters.

Work under the C-FAR Initiative resulted in invention or development of numerous processes, devices, and recommendations for practical application. Many other products have evolved, only some of which also have been discussed in the Report. Some have been less tangible than but just as important as others, including establishment or formalization of enduring interdisciplinary and even interinstitutional scientific teams, $10 million in additional funding leveraged by existence and results of C-FAR projects and research teams, establishment of continuing facilities and staffing for sample collection and analysis and device and process evaluation and testing.

Odor Measurement, Control, and Management

In Area 1, Odor Measurement, Control, and Management, in one project a reliable method for sampling swine-house air for dust, gases, and other VOC of interest was developed and modified after attempts to employ cotton-swatch adsorption were abandoned. Ultimately, the Tekmar-Dohrmann #6 trap at appropriate flow rate was used. Methods and instruments for chemically identifying VOC in swine-facility air and dust were established and refined. These included high-resolution gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry. Results led to improving odor-control technologies in other C-FAR projects. Methods and instruments were refined so precise sampling and testing protocols for organoleptic VOC analysis via dynamic olfactometry (DO) could be developed. Correlation between DO-determined odor offensiveness and total VOC concentration was low; correlations between DO offensiveness descriptors and concentrations of individual VOC were higher. DO tests were used as adjuncts in several Initiative projects.

A basic model having simple nutrient flows that performed reasonably was developed. A statewide nutrient flow model was designed to study implications of swine facilities at state level. A systems-dynamics model of pig growth was developed to evaluate economic feasibilites of 3 approaches to pig-feeding systems as related to nutrient excretion. A successful multi-university workshop on odor-control technologies was held. The UITERM program was established to provide producers faced with pollution or nuisance complaints with consultation by UIUC staff.

The Illinois Swine Odor Control Proving Center was established. It completed evaluation of frequent facility cleaning on odor and dust emissions; a new wet air scrubber; contributions of pig manure to ammonia generation; refinement of the manure-lagoon cover; effect of ozonation on pig-house air quality and pig performance.

A dispersion model based on source strengths from published and archived meteorologic data was built for use as a prediction aid in facility-siting decisions. The "Nanonose" instrument was invented and tested as a means of real-time quantitative measurement of specific VOC aerosols via size-change under specific conditions surrounding aerosol particles as small as 20 nanometers. An approximately linear relationship exists between size change of an aerosol distribution and odor dilution.

Three prototype air dedusters were built. The laboratory prototype removed ~80% of airborne particles and ~55% of ammonia. The 5000-cfm vertical prototype performed almost as well in simulated production settings. With a new wet scrubber, ~50% of dust was removed from the exhaust of an 18" fan. A sequential development process showed that catalytic methods hold promise of being cost-effective ways to reduce exhaust gases from swine houses.

System Design and Management

In Area 2, System Design and Management, results of Initiative research projects and information from other sources were communicated to various stakeholder groups by several methods: accumulating an international database on swine manure and odor (>3000 citations on RefManager); website and CD-ROM systems potentiating easy, rapid future updating; newsletters; several trade-show exhibits; numerous speaking engagements; 2 workshops for scientists; and 2 field days for stakeholders. Illinois TRAILL is developing a website that will allow stakeholders to subscribe to an electronic newsletter, provide a searchable database of articles, and allow editors to upload their own content to the site.

Nutrition

In Area 3, Nutrition, recommendations were developed for adding phytase to wheat middlings- and corn-soy-based pig diets while eliminating the need for supplementation with inorganic phosphorus and reducing excretion of phosphorus and calcium. Reduced dietary nitrogen and sulfur concentrations supported normal performance but decreased concentrations of odor-causing components in pig manure. Efficacy of a new Escherichia coli-based phytase product for dietary inclusion in improving phosphorus utilization efficiency and reducing excretion was demonstrated. A series of nutrition experiments led to several recommendations on nutritional approaches to increasing dietary phosphorus utilization in and decreasing phosphorus excretion by pigs and chicks.

Manure Processing and Handling

In Area 4, Manure Processing and Handling, it was determined that any model of nutrient balance and flow in a swine-production system will need to be site-specific. Each facility will need to frequently monitor its manure system for guidance in management and regulatory compliance. It was demonstrated that composting manure according to specific recipes of manure plus a carbon source (leaves, corn stalks, and so on) is a practical, economical, environmentally safe way for pork producers with small-, medium-, and large-scale operations alike to co-exist with continuing urban sprawl. Compost can be used on-farm as a soil amendment or sold off-farm as a value-added product. The anaerobic sequencing batch reactor was found to be an effective way to remove and recover phosphorus from manure flows, and hence reduce chances of environmental pollution. Three prototype systems for aerobic thermophilic microbic treatment of manure were demonstrated as effective means of using and thus removing manure from a swine-production site. Due to the value of several co-products this technology appears to be practically feasible. A high-temperature, high-pressure thermochemical means of converting pig manure into odor-free oil and char-like substance was developed as yet another means of removing manure from a swine farm. Covers were demonstrated to be effective in reducing odor emissions from manure lagoons. A variable-rate slurry applicator linked to a global positioning system was invented and successfully developed as a means of controlling nutrient levels in crop-field soil. Experiments were conducted to determine optimum design, manure specifications, and operating requirements for a successful, practical gravity liquid/solids settling tank.

Community Considerations and Legal Issues

In Area 5, Community Considerations and Legal Issues, a random survey of Illinois newspapers revealed local arguments pro and con large-scale swine facilities (LSSF)Cpro: farm/industry structure, economics, moral stance, minimizing environmental risks; con: environmental concerns, health risks, farm/industry structure, ethics of rural life. A book, working title Pigs in Print, is a product of this survey. Two more books are being written resulting from many interviews with various stakeholders in the Illinois pork-production industry; working titles are A History of the Hog in Illinois (1950-1980) and Citizen Reactions to Large-scale Swine Facility Sitings. A database available to all was developed to identify and analyze laws and court decisions related to swine odor and manure issues. A guide to important state and federal laws relevant to livestock facilities in IllinoisBHow Environmental Regulation Affects Livestock and Poultry ProductionBwas produced.

The results of this initiative can be characterized as discovery and development, broad and deep, practical and theoretical. They have been described and disseminated to all stakeholder groups. They have thus fulfilled the mission of the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research. Many of the findings will be immediately applicable, others will serve as important links in the chain of scientific study destined to further come to grips with the real problems and opportunities associated with swine odor and manure management in the Land of Lincoln as well as around the world. Outcomes include less tangible matters such as the formation of interdisciplinary research teams and analytical and testing capabilities that promise to long survive the Initiative per se. Illinois scientists' focus on swine odor and manure management has been permanently enhanced.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE

To support continued development of environmentally sustainable, socially acceptable, economically viable U.S. swine industry through a broad, integrated research program addressing issues of swine odor and manure management.

PRIMARY GOALS

1. New approaches to minimizing environmental impacts of swine production that will contribute toward its social acceptability and future prosperity
2. Proper dust- and gas-sampling methods and characterization of aerial dust and gas fractions at swine farms
3. Identify odorous compounds in swine facility air and dust
4. Odor offensiveness: Identify and quantify volatile odorous compounds at swine facilities
5. Dispersion models for improving facility siting and manure application
6. Modify aerodynamic deduster for reducing odor and dust in swine barns
7. Modify wet scrubber for removing odorous dust and gases from exhaust
8. Cost-effective catalytic converter to reduce malodorous gaseous emissions from swine barns
9. Odor and manure database summarizing existing information and allowing information to be easily accessed
10. Identify contributors to odor emissions and integrate findings into models on nutrient flow, production systems, and environmental determinants of odor emissions
11. Research center to evaluate odor- and manure-management practices in a simulated production setting
12. Ways to improve use of dietary nutrients so as to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen release into the environment
13. Dietary factors affecting formation and reduction of compounds responsible for odor
14. Role of dietary protein level on formation of compounds responsible for formation of odors as well as nitrogen levels in swine excrement
15. Ways to improve phosphorus use so as to reduce its excretion
16. Investigate potentially viable processing technologies to reduce volume of manure produced; enhance odor control; reduce contaminants in soil, ground, and surface water; develop a variable-rate slurry applicator
17. Understanding public reactions relating to risks and benefits associated with large-scale swine operations
18. Analysis of federal and state laws and court decisions that govern swine odor and manure issues
19. Database of legal information relevant to Illinois swine producers and citizens