A prototype wet packed bed scrubber for controlling odor emission from a confinement livestock building

approved: /, A prototype cross flow wet bed scrubber was designed and built to study the process of washing particles from the exhaust air of a livestock confinement environment. Livestock production trends have been toward more concentrated, confined proiuction units. A small, but significant number of producers are under pressure to decrease or eliminate the odor emitted from their livestock facilities. Control of odor from livestock production facilities by a scrubber raises the following questions which this research will resolve: a. Is effective removal of dust particles possible using wet scrubbing methods? b. Is r4moval of odors directly associated with dust removal? c. What are the design parameters for dust removal Redacted for Privacy by the wet scrubber, and its technical feasibility for livestock odor control? The research supports the hypothesis that the scrubber is 95 percent effective for removal of particles 5 microns and larger, with more than 50 percent removal measured at the 2 micron particle size. A decrease in odor intensity was statistically correlated to particle removal. Though the scrubber was designed for particle removal, over the entire period of experimentation, 20 percent of the ammonia in the air was removed by the scrubbing action. For qualitative comparison of odor intensity, cloth swatches were used to adsorb odorants on their surface. These swatches were then transported to a remote odor panel which conducted the odor comparison. This inexpensive, simple, and fast sampling procedure gave a positive indication that odor of the confinement building exhaust air was reduced by the scrubber. From this research, design criteria are now available for a prototype scrubber adaptable to current swine production buildings. The physical and operational attributes of the scrubber would allow odor control by removal of particles from the ventilation system of production buildings.