This is Project 3 under the program "Assessment and Mitigation of Air Pollutants in Selected Agro-Industrial Operations at MMSU: Towards an Eco-friendly Environment".

The objectives of this project will be realized through the following component studies:

a. Assess the effectiveness of CRH (activated and un-activated) in minimizing odor emissions, bio-aerosols and fly population in poultry facilities. This study involves two major components:

a.1 Laboratory testing - the study will be initially conducted in a bench (laboratory) scale for manageability and to minimize costs. Results will serve as a reference for field-scale testing or validation. This study will employ 5 treatments, 3 replications using the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). However, an increase in the sequence of treatments (more levels) will be tried if the effects of the 2 initial levels are found promising. Hence, the treatments are the following:

a.2 Field testing - to validate the results of the laboratory testing, this will be tested in an actual poultry facility. The most promising level both from un-activated and activated CRH treatments will be considered in the field test, hence it will have 3 treatments replicated 3 times using RCBD. The following treatments therefore will be:

Parameters to be assessed:

 

b. Assess the effectiveness of CRH (activated and un-activated) in minimizing odor emissions, bio-aerosols and fly population in organic fertilizer processing - this study has two sequential activities:

 

b.1 Laboratory experiment - for purposes of manageability and minimizing efforts and costs, a laboratory experiment will be conducted first, then it will be scaled up using the result of the laboratory experiment. Since the treatments are based on two factors (type of CRH (activated or un-activated) and type of application (topical and mixed)), sequential testing will be employed. This means that one level of each treatment will be tested first and a sequence of more levels will be tried if initial results are found promising. Hence, the initial treatments which will be laid in RCBD with 3 replications are the following:

For purposes of consistency, the materials/substrates to be used in the trials will be the same.

 

b.2 Field testing - based on the results of laboratory testing, validation will be done in the organic fertilizer processing unit. The most promising level from each treatment category will be used as treatments, hence the following:

Parameters to be assessed:

Information on the effectiveness of carbonized rice hull (activated and un-activated) on odor emission, bio-aerosol concentration, and fly population of some agricultural operations