Influence of compressive settlement on methane emission during dairy cattle manure composting

Date

4-2014

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering

Major Course

Major in Agricultural and Bio-Process Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Ronaldo B. Saludes

Restrictions

Restricted: Not available to the general public. Access is available only after consultation with author/thesis adviser and only to those bound by the confidentiality agreement.

Abstract

In this study, the influence of compressive settlement on methane emission during composting of dairy cattle manure was determined. A bench-scale composting system was used for the composting experiment. Compressive settlement was analyzed by applying different loads (1.5 kg, 3 kg, 4.5 kg, and 6kg) on top of the compost material. Dairy cattle manure without an external compressive load served as the control. A calibrated methane sensor was integrated to a gizduino microcontroller to measure the methane concentration of compost exhaust gas at 10 minute interval. Results showed that methane gas concentration peaked from day 0 to day 1 for the control and all treatments. Dairy cattle manure subjected to 6 kg compressive load produced the highest total methane emission (3.56 mg CH4/kg dm), followed by 4.5 kg (3.49 mg CH4/kg dm), 3 kg (3.34 mg CH4/kg dm), 1.5 kg (3.06 mg CH4/kg dm) and control (2.93 mg CH4/kg dm). Total methane emissions at different compressive load were significantly different from the control at P < 0.05. Comparison of total methane emission between treatments showed significant differences except for 4.5 and 6 kg load. This can be explained by the decrease in Free Air Space (FAS) of compost material as a result of increasing compressive load. However, the dairy cattle manure may have reached asymptotically its maximum compressed state which resulted to insignificant changes in methane emission at very high compressive loads.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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