UV-A photocatalysis has been investigated to comprehensively mitigate odor and selected air pollutants in the livestock environment. This study was conducted to confirm the performance of UV-A photocatalysis on the swine farm. The objectives of this research were to (1) scale-up of the UV-A photocatalysis treatment, (2) evaluate the mitigation of odorous gases from swine slurry pit, and (3) evaluate the effect of suspended particulate matter (PM). We tested UV-A photocatalysis at a mobile laboratory-scale capable of treating ~0.2 - 0.8 m3·s-1 of barn exhaust air. The targeted gaseous emissions of barn exhaust air were significantly mitigated (p < 0.05) up to 40% reduction of measured odor; 63%, 44%, 32%, 40%, 66%, and 49% reduction of dimethyl disulfide, isobutyric acid, butanoic acid, p-cresol, indole, and skatole, respectively; 40% reduction of H2S; 100% reduction of O3; and 13% reduction of N2O. The PM mitigation effect was not significant. Formaldehyde levels did not change, and a 21% generation of CO2 was observed. The smell of benzoic acid generated in UV-A treatment was likely one of the compounds responsible for the less-offensive overall odor character of the UV-treated emissions. Results are needed to inform the design of a farm-scale trial, where the interior barn walls can be treated with the photocatalyst, and foul air will be passively treated as it moves through the barn.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/william_jenks/47/
This conference presentation is published as Lee, Myeongseong, Jacek A. Koziel, Wyatt Murphy, William Jenks, Baitong Chen, Peiyang Li, and Chumki Banik. "Field-scale testing of mobile laboratory for mitigation of gaseous emissions from the swine farm with UV-A photocatalysis." ASABE Paper No. 2100082. ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 12-16, 2021. DOI: 10.13031/aim.202100082. Posted with permission.