In this study, a pilot-scale (3 m3/day) membrane distillation (MD) process was operated to treat digestate produced from anaerobic digestion of livestock wastewater. In order to evaluate the performance and energy cost of MD process, it was compared with the pilot scale (10 m3/day) reverse osmosis (RO) process, expected competitive process, under same feed condition. As results, MD process shows stable permeate flux (average 10.1 L/m2/hr) until 150 hours, whereas permeate flux of RO process was decreased from 5.3 to 1.5 L/m2/hr within 24 hours. In the case of removal of COD, TN, and TP, MD process shows a high removal rate (98.7, 93.7, and 99% respectively) stably until 150 hours. However, in the case of RO process, removal rate was decreased from 91.6 to 69.5% in COD and from 93.7 to 76.0% in TP during 100 hours of operation. Removal rate of TN in RO process was fluctuated in the range of 34.5-62.9% (average 44.6%) during the operation. As a result of energy cost analysis, MD process using waste heat for heating the feed shows 18% lower cost compare with RO process. Thus, overall efficiency of the MD process is higher then that of the RO process in terms of permeate flux, removal rate of salts, and operating cost (in the case of using waste heat) in treating the anaerobic digestate of livestock wastewater.

This study developed an up-flow wetland providing either an eco-friendly follow-up process of medium-sized public treatment facility for livestock manure or a non-point source pollution controller near livestock farms. The four bench-scale up-flow wetlands were operated with four different bed media sets. The removal efficiencies of the wetland effluent for CODCr, TN, TP, SS were 35.2 %, 29.5 %, 31.2 % and 52.2 % for set 1(Blank, without reed, with bio-ceramic), 40.6 %, 43.4 %, 42.2 % and 55.4 % for set 2(with bio-reed&without bio-ceramic), 45.2 %, 48.7 %, 46.6 % and 66.3 % for set 3(with bio-reed&bio-ceramic), 32.9 %, 27.3 %, 29.3 % and 54.1 % for Set 4(with reed&bio ceramic), respectively. The set 3 condition having a mixture of bio-reed and bio-ceramic showed the highest efficiency in the bench-scale evaluation. This study suggests a mixture of bio-reed and bio-ceramic as suitable bed media in the construction of artificial wetlands near livestock farms. Soils including the bed media were monitored during the evaluation for trace elements. Soil analysis results were satisfied with the Korean Soil Contamination Standard. This study showed that the up-flow constructed wetland was feasible to treat the effluent livestock wastewater treatment facility.