Odor abatement in a pig farm

Animal farms can be distinguished, depending on the type of production orientation, into two types:

• closed cycle farms: in which the entire cycle, from birth to sending the animals to the slaughterhouse, takes place within the farm itself. 
• open-cycle farms: in which only part of the life cycle of the animals takes place (for example, farms where there is no fattening but only sows that produce piglets to sell to other companies; or companies that purchase piglets for subsequent fattening and therefore only deal with this phase).

The smelly emissions in these farms are obviously linked to the presence of the animals and their excrement and the proximity between the stables and the homes is an issue of great importance, as it directly affects the health and well-being of the inhabitants of the surrounding areas.

There are various national, regional and local regulations that regulate the distances between stables and residences. Among these there are: 

• The Royal Decree of 27 July 1934, n. 1265 Consolidated text of health laws – Art. 216: which generally defines the two classes into which manufacturing or factories that produce vapours, gases or other unhealthy fumes are divided. It also regulates that the activities included in the first class can be permitted in the built-up area if they do not cause harm to the health of the neighbourhood. 
• Art. 890 of the Civil Code: which establishes with regulations the distance to be observed and, failing that, those necessary to preserve nearby properties from any damage to their solidity, healthiness and safety. 

Furthermore, regional and municipal regulations establish distances that vary depending on: 

• type of farming: intensive farming vs. extensive farming; 
• number of animals: the size of the farm can influence the necessary distances; 
• climatic and geographical conditions: local characteristics can influence the dispersion of odors and pathogens; 
• manure management techniques: the different types of storage and treatment are considered;
• use of effluent treatment systems: for example in accumulation tanks or stabilization lagoons, with mechanical, biological or chemical treatments. 

These regulations have been developed to minimize the risk of air and noise pollution, as well as to prevent any situations of conflict between agricultural and residential activities.

 However, the State and the Regions have not issued "universally valid" mandatory regulations to be applied to individual Municipalities, but limit themselves to providing "... indications aimed at identifying better solutions to minimize the impact and promote good coexistence between agro-zootechnical realities and settlements urban …” or so-called good practice guidelines. 

This means that from time to time we must address the emissions problems of livestock with a specific approach, as we did in the case we describe below.

A closed-cycle pig breeding company based in Central Italy contacted us because residents in the area had been complaining for some time about bad odors coming from the plant. 

The smelly emissions developed in two specific areas: 

• inside the growth pigsty and spread into the environment through the openings; 
• from the sewage storage tank.

To reduce unpleasant odors coming from the pigsty, we started by taking into consideration the treatment of the air coming out of the openings positioned on the sides of the factory and from the doors. In this case the solution identified is the one that exploits osmogenic barrier technology.
This is an excellent solution when you need to intervene on a non-dangerous but annoying emission. As already illustrated in this case of odor abatement, in the livestock sector we almost always find conditions of this type and therefore we choose not to adopt more complex and expensive abatement technologies. 

After having studied the situation and developed a customized project for the customer's emission criticality, we installed a new osmogenic barrier nebulization system for the treatment of the pigsty. 

The farm is made up of 9 buildings, 2 of which are dedicated to the growth of animals, which have 22 fans in total for air extraction. All fans are of the same type and work simultaneously to ensure adequate air exchange.
In this case we installed the nozzles directly on the extractors: four nozzles per fan powered by an HPS evo system.
The nozzles fixed to the door are instead powered by a dedicated HPS midi Fresh system.

The two sewage storage tanks are located next to each other. At certain times of the year this sewage is pumped into a tank tractor and distributed across the fields.
However, when they are mixed and pumped into the tank, the release of bad odors is considerable and before our intervention it was felt by residents in the surrounding areas.
To offer the customer a solution to this critical issue, we have proposed our La.Biofog 400 mobile high-pressure nebulization system on Skid capable of being easily moved within the plant where necessary. 

The La.BioFog 400 system was positioned between the two tanks and fed directly from the farm and specific deodorizing products are nebulized through it.

Through the use of our odor abatement systems, the customer found a significant improvement in odor problems and there were no more complaints from the neighbourhood. 

Given the results obtained, the company decided to adopt the same osmogenic barrier technology for some of the other warehouses as well.