This study evaluated the effectiveness of odor reduction when spraying inside the Bio-curtain (hereinafter referred to as curtain) according to the exhaust fan operating rate. Spraying is a main factor affecting the ability to odor reduction of curtains. The curtain (total area: 37.9m3) was constructed with two layers of light-shielding screens stretched over a rectangular parallelepiped structure installed around an exhaust fan (630 mm) on the side wall of a pig barn. Air samples for odor analysis were collected from inside the pig barn and outside the curtain. The main odorous compounds such as volatile fatty acids, phenols, indoles, and ammonia were measured. The odor reduction effectiveness was evaluated by total odor activity values (TOAVs) summed to the odor activity values of each odorous compounds. Depending on the exhaust fan operating rate, the reduced rate of TOAVs gradually decreased to the range between 15.67% and 68.80%. Because the contact time between the spraying liquid and the air velocity of the exhaust fan becomes shorter (or there is a reduction in liquid to gas flow ratio) as the exhaust fan operating rate increases. The results of this study can be used as basic data for research into spraying conditions to improve the odor reduction effectiveness of curtains.

This study evaluates the ammonia (NH3) reduction effect of Bio-curtains (hereinafter referred to as curtains) utilized for odor control in pig farms based on the distance outside the curtain and the spraying condition. The curtain (total area: 37.9m3) was constructed with two layers of light-shielding screens stretched over a rectangular parallelepiped structure installed around a ventilation fan (630 mm) on the side wall of a pig barn where 48 finishing pigs were reared. The real-time NH3 concentration was measured by using a photoacoustic spectrometer. In the first part of this study, the NH3 measurement position for each side of the curtain was selected based on the lowest standard deviation among 4 to 8 initial sampling points on the surface of the curtain and utilized for both experiments of distance and spraying. In the experiment concerning the distance outside the curtain, ammonia concentration decreased by 17.45% at 2m compared to the distance at 5 cm and by 6.94% at 4m compared to 2m on average. In contrast, the NH3 reduction rate for each distance compared to the ventilation fan was the lowest at the 100% operating rate in which the exhausted NH3 concentration from the ventilation fan was low. At this time, the spraying mist on the inside of the curtain increased the NH3 reduction rate by 4.98 to 10.36% compared to the non-spraying condition. Consequently, the NH3 be reduced as distance outside the curtain increases due to the diffusion effect caused by the surrounding wind and the spraying mist on the inside curtain on the dissolution of NH3.

The distance between livestock facilities and residential spaces is decreasing. Moreover, livestock odor complaints are increasing due to the large-scale and concentrated livestock breading industry. In order to reduce odor from livestock facilities, bio-curtain that are easy to install and inexpensive are commonly used in Korea. However, there is a lack of basic data on design standards and operation manuals for bio-curtains. The installation density of the bio-curtain material is an important factor that affects the odor reduction rate, increment of the load on the ventilation fans, and the structural stability of the curtain. There are limitations on deriving the design conditions of the bio-curtain by only field experiments targeting invisible air. Therefore, aerodynamic simulation such as CFD (computational fluid dynamics) can be used to obtain quantitative data according to various environmental conditions. Bio-curtain is a porous medium with a complex structure, and it is necessary to derive aerodynamic coefficients to analyze it. In this study, the wind speed and pressure difference according to the design density of the bio-curtain were monitored using the experimental chamber. Using the field results, a pressure resistance curve was created for each flow velocity and installation density. The viscosity and resistance coefficient of the bio-curtain were calculated through the derived resistance curve.