Farmers take care of our milk, cheese, meat, eggs and many other products that we enjoy every day. But keeping animals also emits a lot of harmful gases and substances. Farms are important to our country, but they also have to move along with the new rules on a cleaner and safer environment to live in. To greatly reduce the problems of harmful emissions, the air scrubbers has been developed. With an biological or chemical air scrubber, the emissions of ammonia, odor and particulate matter are reduced, which ensures cleaner air in livestock farming.
What is an air scrubber?
Simply explained, an air scrubber is a large filter that is placed in or behind a stable, and through which all outgoing stable air is ventilated. The filter is continuously sprayed with process water. When the process water and stable air come into contact with each other, ammonia, odor and particulate matter are filtered out of the air.
There are biological and chemical air scrubbers. In biological systems, microorganisms convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrate. In chemical systems, ammonia is converted using sulfuric acid which is added to the process water. The major difference between the two air scrubbers is that chemical device in particular reduce ammonia emissions, while the organic version also reduces odor and particulate matter.
How an air scrubber makes air from the cattle shed cleaner
Before purchasing an air scrubber, it is good to know how an air scrubber can clean the air from a cattle shed.
Biological
Biological air scrubbing systems consists of a plastic filter package over which water is continuously spayed. The filter package contains microorganisms. When the ammonia from the stable air is dissolved in the process water, it is converted into ammonium. The ammonium is broken down by the microorganisms and they convert it into nitrite and then into nitrate. The formed nitrite and nitrate is drained with the waste water, which must be done regularly. If the concentration becomes too high, the microorganisms no longer work. The waste water can be used as fertilizer.
Chemical
In a chemical air scrubber water, acidified by sulfuric acid, flows over the plastic filter package. The acidic mixture then reacts with ammonia to form ammonium sulfate. This removes ammonia from the air. About 1.5 liters of sulfuric acid is required per kilogram of ammonia that is removed from the stable air. You must also purge the process water with ammonium sulfate. This waste water can be used as a mineral fertilizer for nitrogen and sulfur.