Applying biological methods to treat livestock waste

Vice Chairman of Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Phi (front row, second from left) listens to businesses sharing a pilot model of waste treatment with composting worms

Still difficult to deal with bad odors in livestock
In recent years, the province has paid special attention to environmental protection in livestock production areas with many strong solutions such as: taking livestock out of the inner city, only granting permits to farmers. The farm has a waste treatment system that meets the requirements of environmental sanitation, along with promoting the development of farm animal husbandry… Many waste treatment technology solutions have been applied, but there is no effective solution to deal with odors.
Vinh Cuu district has nearly 800 pig breeding facilities with about 147,000 pigs. Most of the facilities apply waste treatment by biogas tunnels, wastewater is filtered through sedimentation tanks and then absorbed into the ground or discharged into the environment. Collected and composted pig manure fertilizes crops or sold to fertilizer manufacturers, using homemade IMO probiotic water (ingredient include: yeast broth, rice bran or spoiled fruit, brown sugar and fermenting water for about 1 week) for spraying.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Thang, owner of a pig farm with a scale of 2 thousand heads in Tan An commune (Vinh Cuu district) shared that the most difficult part in handling pig waste is the bad smell. In the past, he used many ways such as mixing probiotics into food, using padding, making biogas tunnels, regularly spraying the barn, but the smell still affected the surrounding households. Later, he used homemade IMO probiotic water to spray the barn, the odor improved. The advantage is that this type of yeast can be made at home, with available or easy-to-buy ingredients, and at low cost.
At Xuan Loc district, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Thi Hiep said that livestock farms are using many different types of probiotics to treat odors, some of them are using the BARU probiotics of Trung Vang Technology Corp (Trang Bom district), others use homemade IMO probiotics. There are farms that build a closed process from breeding to farming. Pig manure is treated as crop fertilizer, wastewater is reused to wash barns or water plants, and gas is used as fuel.
According to the general assessment of localities, bad smell is still a dilemma for pig farms, causing frustration for people around. Localities need technological solutions to circulate wastewater, pig manure and reduce odors at the farm scale.

Composting worm farm model to treat livestock waste

Pilot waste treatment with composting worms
At the field survey of the pig farm in Vinh Cuu district and working with BioRec Recycling Joint Stock Company (headquarter in Hanoi) at the end of September, Vice President Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Phi agreed to pilot a model of pollution treatment and recycling of pig farm waste with a combination of microbiological technology and composting worm biomass at a 4,000-head pig farm in Tan An commune. The enterprise proposes a model to bear 100% of the cost of equipment installation, labor, and waste treatment arising from pig farming. If the model is effective in terms of economy and environment, the province will allow enterprises to consult technology to livestock farms in the province.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Trung, General Director of BioRec Recycling Joint Stock Company - the unit that proposed the above technology model shared, raising composting worms to treat livestock waste is applied by some farmers, but at the farm scale, evaluating the effectiveness based on data and standards for dissemination is not available. The company chose Dong Nai as a pilot because of the large number of livestock farms, and provincial leaders are particularly interested in environmental sanitation. If favorable, the company will not only commercialize technological solutions but also invest in an organic fertilizer factory in the province.
According to Mr. Trung, applying this solution, pigs are added with probiotics to food to reduce odors, pig manure and washing water are put into the extractor, from this extractor the water is brought down to the biomass ice filter system to re-wash the barn, and the residue is used as food for worms. Worm manure is used to produce organic fertilizer, while worms are sold as feed for poultry and aquatic products.
“This solution helps the farm save costs by circulating water, selling manure and worms; Waste treatment meets environmental standards. The enterprise commercializes technological solutions, has stable raw materials for the production of organic fertilizers, "- shared Mr. Trung.
A representative of Dong Nai Agriculture Livestock Products JSC (Tan An Commune, Vinh Cuu District), The pilot unit of the model said that the farm is applying the biogas solution to treat waste, but the smell is a problem. The company will facilitate the implementation of this model and if it is effective, it will be applied in the long term, ensuring environmental hygiene and saving costs.

Livestock establishments in the province are applying many waste treatment technology solutions such as: using biogas tunnels, biological products, composting pits... but it is still mainly biogas, which has not been able to handle the bad smell.