Electrolytic treatment of swine liquid manure in a full scale experiment

A study was conducted to test the efficiency of electrolytic treatment in the control of odourous substances of stored swine slurries. For this purpose, a pair of copper electtrodes were placed, at a distance of 50 m from each other, in a pit (50 x 5.4 x 2.0 m) containing 540 m(3) of diluted swine slurries (31 g/L COD, 1-2% TS). Every 10 minutes, alternate current (intensity 1,498 mA maximum density 136,4 mA/dm(2)) was applied for 90 days. Results showed that a better control of odours was obtained with electrolytic treatment than with storage only (final cooncentration: 73 and 111 T.O.N., respectively), After electrolytic treatment a decrease of ATP content was associated with odour reduction, a lower N-NH3 concentration (78% versus 89%) and the absence of crust formation an the surface. No relationship was found between the number of microorganisms and odour reduction.