Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering
>> 2017,
Volume 11,
Issue 3
doi:
10.1007/s11783-017-0955-1
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Greenhouse gas emissions during co-composting of cattle feedlot manure with construction and demolition (C&D) waste
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4B1, Canada
Available online: 2017-06-07
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Abstract
Manure management strategies should reflect current animal feeding practices and encourage recycling of organic waste to help protect our environment. This research investigated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during cattle manure stockpiling or composting with and without construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Manure was collected from cattle fed a typical finishing diet (CK manure) and from cattle on diets which included 30% dried distillers grains with solubles (DG manure). The CK and DG manures were co-composted with (4:1) C&D waste (treatments: CK_CD DG_CD), composted alone (treatments: CK and DG) in 13 m bins or stockpiled without C&D waste (treatments: CK_ST and DG_ST) for 99 days. Manure type (CK vs. DG manure) had no effect on GHG emissions over the 99 day manure composting or stockpiling. Composting with C&D waste produced similar CO emissions, about double that from manure stockpiling (7.0 kgC·m ). In contrast, CH emissions were reduced by the inclusion of C&D waste (64 gC·m with C&D vs. 244 gC·m without C&D) while the manure stockpile emitted the greatest amount of CH (464 gC·m ). Additionally, only 0.48% of C was emitted in CH form with C&D waste, compared to 1.68% when composting without C&D waste and 7.00% when cattle manure was stockpiled. The N O emissions (12.4 to 18.0 gN·m ) were similar across all treatments. The lower CH emissions with C&D waste are beneficial in reducing overall GHG emissions from manure composting, while reducing the amount of material entering landfills.