Knowledge Agora



Scientific Article details

Title Effect of Flushing Milk and Acidic Whey on pH and Nitrogen Loss of Cattle Manure Slurry
ID_Doc 10886
Authors Sepperer, T; Petutschnigg, A; Steiner, K
Title Effect of Flushing Milk and Acidic Whey on pH and Nitrogen Loss of Cattle Manure Slurry
Year 2021
Published Atmosphere, 12, 9
DOI 10.3390/atmos12091222
Abstract With the increasing demand for food worldwide, the use of fertilizers in the agricultural industry has grown. Natural fertilizers derived from the use of animal manure slurry, especially cattle and cow, are responsible for 40% of the agricultural ammonia emission. The EU defined the goal to reduce NH3 emission drastically until 2030, yet until today an overall increase has been observed, making it more difficult to reach the target. In this study, we used two by-products from the dairy industry, namely flushing milk and acidic whey, to lower the pH of cattle manure slurry and therefore mitigate the loss of nitrogen in the form of ammonia into the atmosphere, making it available in the soil. Measurements of pH, ammonium nitrogen, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and lactic acid bacteria colonies were conducted in a lab-scale experiment to test the hypothesis. Afterwards, pH measurements were conducted on bigger samples. We found that whey effectively reduced the pH of manure below 5, therefore moving the ammonia/ammonium equilibrium strongly towards ammonium. Flushing milk on the other hand lowered the pH to a smaller extent, yet allowed for faster hydrolysis of urea into ammonium. The findings in this study present a suitable and environmentally friendly approach to help reach the climate goals set by the EU by using by-products from the same industry branch, therefore being a suitable example of circular economy.
Author Keywords dairy; ammonia; kjeldahl; mitigation; lactic acid; LAB; greenhouse gas; emission; NEC
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:000699392400001
WoS Category Environmental Sciences; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
PDF
Similar atricles
Scroll