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INVESTIGATOR: Kommalapati, R. R.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY
P.O. Box 519, MS 2001
PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS 77446

ENERGY AND NUTRIENT RECOVERY FROM GOAT MANURE BY ANAEROBIC CO-DIGESTION WITH COTTON GIN TRASH AND FOOD WASTE

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Confined animal feeding operations (CAFO) are confronted with air quality concerns pertaining to emission of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter and greenhouse gasses. Manure laden runoff with high concentrations of nutrients also poses a water pollution problem to surface and groundwater resources. Effective management of manure and agricultural wastewater is key to improving sustainability of livestock operations and limiting their impact on the environment. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a proven treatment technology that treats wastewater and generates renewable methane and stable biosolids as effluent. Integrating waste feedstock from multiple sources offers an attractive option to overcome the constraints of small-scale livestock operations. The proposed research would address agricultural sustainability issues at the International Goat Research Center (IGRC) at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), by focusing on the development of a novel and integrated waste management approach to anaerobically co-digest goat manure, cotton gin trash and food wastes to generate renewable energy and produce nutrient rich biosolids. The proposed project would initiate extensive collaborative research between Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering at PVAMU by applying engineering principles to validate and optimize a 2-stage lab-scale AD system capable of handling manure sludge at IGRC. Lifecycle assessment of AD process would be offer a comprehensive approach to elucidate the environmental and cost-benefit analysis of agricultural waste management. Impact of chemical additives and fly ash on process kinetics and reliability will offer valuable information on fertilizer recovery from manure waste.

OBJECTIVES: The overarching goal of the project is to develop an integrated waste management solution via anaerobic co-digestion of GM with CGT and FW to recover methane and nutrient-rich biosolids. This goal is realized through the following objectives:1. To validate and optimize a 2-stage AD process for co-digestion of GM with CGT and FW and produce renewable bioenergy (methane) and fertilizer (nutrient-rich biosolids) as valuable byproducts 2. Elucidate the environmental benefits (air, water and GHG emissions) of the AD process through LCA3. Evaluate the impact of biosolids application on physical and chemical aspects of agricultural soil quality