Application of aluminosilicates for mitigation of ammonia and volatile organic compound emissions from poultry manure

Odor mitigation techniques are widely investigated due to the problem of odor nuisance generated by intensive livestock production. The goal of this research was to investigate the use of aluminosilicate sorbents as filter packs in the air scrubber ODOR1, which enables cleaning of air inside the livestock building. The following sorbents were examined: raw halloysite, roasted halloysite, activated halloysite, raw bentonite, roasted bentonite and expanded vermiculite. The experiment was conducted in chambers where poultry manure was placed, the time of air treatment was 24 hours. A manual SPME (solid-phase microextraction) holder with DVB/Carboxen/PDMS fiber was used for extraction of odor compounds, and analyses were carried out using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Ammonia concentrations were determined according to Polish standards (Nessler method) using a spectrophotometer. It was found that all examined aluminosilicates had the potential for removal of ammonia as well as 24 volatile compounds emitted from poultry manure. The highest efficiency was noted for activated halloysite (81%) and roasted bentonite (84%) in the case of ammonia and odors, respectively. Despite the limitations of the study, the results showed the effectiveness of the air scrubber packed with aluminosilicates for the reduction of volatile odorous compounds in the air of livestock buildings.