Multi-Pollutant and One-Stage Scrubbers for Removal of Ammonia, Odor, and Particulate Matter from Animal House Exhaust Air

In several European countries, acid scrubbers and bio-scrubbers are off-the-shelf techniques for effective removal of ammonia from exhaust air from animal houses and, to a lesser extent, for odor. The number of operating air scrubbers at livestock operations in the Netherlands in 2008 is estimated to clean the air of approximately 10 percent of the pigs produced nationwide. Currently, a new generation of so-called multi-pollutant air scrubbers are developed for intensive livestock production that mitigates emissions of both ammonia, odor and PM10/2.5. A research and implementation program has been set up by the Dutch government that aims to stimulate the development and introduction of multi-pollutant air scrubbers The objectives of this paper are to give an overview of technical principles applied in the current generation of scrubbers for livestock operation, and present results from research on one-stage scrubbers applied in pig and poultry production and preliminary results of the Dutch research program with regard to removal efficiencies and operational parameters of multi-pollutant scrubbers. Results are presented from tests of an acid scrubber developed for pig and poultry facilities. Mean ammonia removal performance on two poultry and two pig locations were all higher than 90%, means of odor removal varied between 26 and 64%. The first preliminary results of multi-pollutant scrubbers are shown. Future measurements will be carried out in the coming two years in order to get reliable data on long-term performance of the multipollutant scrubber systems.