2022– EnBiorganic Technologies  (EBT), innovator and provider of patent-pending, turn-key autonomous systems for the natural, biological treatment of wastewater recently partnered with a privately owned, family operated swine farm in West Liberty, Iowa which had production facilities and acreage available for a technology demonstration to prove the viability of their revolutionary service process ability to provide sustainable and safe elimination of water contamination risks, fines related to manure storage, odors, and toxic gases, as well as improving crop yields. The collaboration allowed for a hands-on operational trial to demonstrate performance expectations at pilot scale.

Implementation was two-part: Swine Manure Management and Corn Crop Yield. For the swine manure, an on-site barn trial with a non-replicative, single EBS-Di unit evaluation was conducted. The EBS-Di unit was integrated into one barn facility at mid-herd rotation (1200 head) and a non-integrated barn was used as control (2400 head), both with half full manure collection pits at initiation. The EBS-Di unit was operated for several months prior to pulling manure for analysis and fall field application. Subsequent operation continued through winter and a second set of manure samples were pulled for field application.

Corn Crop Yield Implementation consisted of processed manure and control manure being applied (5100 gal/acre) in fields after harvest in Fall (2021) or in Spring (2022) prior to planting. No further applications of either type of manure was used during growing season.

Results

In the case of the Swine Manure, laboratory results indicated a reduction in total solids in the treated pit and measurable differences in N, P, K values (Figure 1 – Manure Analysis). Qualitative assessments indicated that EBS-Di process resulted in large reduction in odors as no objectionable odors were noticed in the area outside the barn and less odor level inside the barn.

The Corn Crop Yield demonstrated that the EBS-Di treatment showed an increase of 8 Bu/acre corn yield over control when fall applied and an increase of 23 Bu/acre corn yield when spring applied (Figure 2). Corn crops also demonstrated physical differences between control vs. treated. As well as fall application vs. spring application of the EBS-Di treated manure. (Figure 3).

Economic Impact

The system had a positive impact on the swine manure characteristics. Lower levels of ammonia and odorous gases improved working/living conditions while an anecdotal improvement in mortality and productivity was perceived but not formally tracked.

EBS-Di processed manure had a favorable impact on corn yield when applied in Fall (+4%) or Spring (+11%), as compared to control, with a more positive effect in spring likely due to planting immediacy. This increase improved the net revenue ($51/acre Fall; $149/acre Spring) for the farmer without any additional manure input over season. (Table 1.)

These demonstration trial results indicate that the EBS-Di process lowers total solids, reduces nitrogen levels, and via human olfactory observations, reduces odors outside as well as inside swine barns. As there are known correlations between swine odor and greenhouse gas (e.g. methane) generation, it may be hypothesized that the reductions in swine odor, may also indicate a potential reduction in these gases. Further investigation is needed and ongoing.

In addition, utilization of digested manure on corn crops resulted in increased yields irrespective of application season window. Recurrent field applications, based upon bioaugmentation results by others, has an additive effect on crop yields, thus it is expected that there will be increasing crop revenues from recurring applications.

While further research is needed to fill in knowledge gaps and expand operational designs, and fully assess the total value proposition to include all tangible and intangible economic benefits beyond the much-needed odor control, the experiment has proven that use of the EBS-Di process can provide significant financial gain for farmers and operators regarding manure management, while providing beneficial improvement from bioaugmentation to crop soils and other issues impacting and threatening all CAFO production facilities.