Compost biofiltration of ammonia gas from bin composting.

The effects of the manure compost/coconut peels on the ammonia removal efficiency were examined from dairy manure composting mixed with crop residues. The high rapid composting and manure compost biofiltration experiments consisted of three biofilter vessels with one composter. Dairy manure amended with rice hulls and sawdust was composted in 605 L pilot-scale composter using continuous aeration for 19 days. Three pilot-scale manure compost biofilter amended with media bed 500 mm in depth and 300 mm in diameter were built to clean ammonia emission from composter, respectively. The manure compost biofilter media in the three experimental vessels was using a 50:50 by weight mixture of manure compost and coconut peels (MC/CP). The ammonia concentrations at the inlet and outlet biofilter media were measured by boric acid traps as described by Hong et al. [Hong, J.H., Keener, H.M., Elwell, D.L., 1998. Preliminary study of the effect of continuous and intermittent aeration on composting hog manure amended with sawdust. Compost Science and Utilization 6 (3), 74-88]. Results indicated that the mixture of MC/CP performed well as a biofilter media and the ammonia removal efficiency was 100% for the filter depth of 500 mm.