Treatment and utilization of swine wastewater - A review on technologies in full-scale application

The management of swine wastewater has become the focus of attention in the farming industry. The disposal mode of swine wastewater can be classified as field application of treated waste and treatment to meet discharge standards. The status of investigation and application of unit technology in treatment and utilization such as solid-liquid separation, aerobic treatment, anaerobic treatment, digestate utilization, natural treatment, anaerobic-aerobic combined treatment, advanced treatment, are reviewed from the full-scale application perspective. The technologies of anaerobic digestion-land application is most appropriate for small and medium-sized pig farms or large pig farms with enough land around for digestate application. The process of solid-liquid separation-anaerobic-aerobic-advanced treatment to meet the discharge standard ismost suitable for large and extra-large pig farms without enough land. Poor operation of anaerobic digestion unit in winter, hard to completely utilize liquid digestate and high treatment cost of digested effluent for meeting discharge standard are established as the main difficulties.

Automated summary

The management of swine wastewater in the farming industry is focused on the disposal mode, including treated waste application and discharge standard treatment. Various unit technologies for treatment and utilization have been reviewed, such as solid-liquid separation, aerobic treatment, anaerobic treatment, digestate utilization, natural treatment, anaerobic-aerobic combined treatment, and advanced treatment. Different technologies are suitable for different types and sizes of pig farms based on land availability and treatment requirements, and there are challenges in winter operation, digestate utilization, and treatment cost for meeting discharge standards.