Japan's National Institute Develops Technology to Suppress Generation of N2O During Manure Composting

Copyright NARO

The National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science under the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) has developed a technology to suppress the generation of nitrous oxide (N2O) during the composting of pig manure. The technology succeeded in substantially reducing the amount of N2O generated in the composting process by adding mature compost that can easily be obtained at livestock farms and/or compost producing facilities.

The newly developed technology involves a process to oxidize nitrite ions (NO2-), the cause of N2O generation during composting of pig manure, and changing them rapidly into nitrate ions (NO3-) by adding nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, which are normally present in large amounts in mature compost. Using this technology, the generation of N2O is substantially reduced.

N2O is the most potent ozone depleting substance, having 310 times the global warming potential as carbon dioxide (CO2) per molecule. Agriculture is the largest emission source of N2O among human-related activities, largely due to livestock excreta. To date, there had been no effective countermeasures in livestock manure composting, despite the urgent need.

The test results showed that the N2O generation was reduced by as much as 80 percent (60 percent on average) using the new technology, as compared to the conventional method of not adding mature compost. NARO is planning to conduct a full-scale experiment for practical applications and to investigate the possibility of applying this technology to the processing of manure from other livestock, such as cows and chickens.

Japanese Research Group Succeeds in Catalyst-Free Biodiesel Production Test (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/028873.html
The National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science under the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) official website
http://nilgs.naro.affrc.go.jp/index-e.html

Posted: 2010/06/08 06:00:15 AM