Pollutants and Heat Treatment of Livestock Manure: Emission, Control, and Environmental Risk Assessment

About this Research Topic

Background

The rapid growth of the world’s population and demand for animal products has resulted in an increase in animal waste. Livestock and poultry waste is dealt with in several ways including direct agricultural use, solid-liquid separation, combustion, pyrolysis, liquefaction, gasification, composting, vermicomposting, anaerobic digestion, insect treatment, and untreated disposal into the environment.

The organic constituents of animal manures provide calorific values (12-15 MJ/kg dry weight) comparable to those of wood wastes and low-grade coal (lignite). The use of animal manure as feedstock in energy production helps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by offsetting the use of fossil-based solid fuels. Manures are also an important resource of useful microorganisms, organic materials, and nutrients; people engaged in agricultural activities have routinely applied animal manure and their derivatives to farmlands as a phosphate- and nitrogen-rich fertilizer. However, the ways in which animal manure is reused and disposed of can result in adverse environmental effects.

Livestock and poultry manure contains many pollutants such as heavy metals, antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant genes, hormones, pathogens and microbiological pollutants, and nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. Pollutants are a major limiting factor for the large-scale application of manure in energy production and for use as fertilizers.

This Research Topic aims to highlight recent advances in the study of pollutant emissions, control, and ecological risk assessment in relation to the disposal process of livestock and poultry manure via heat treatment (e.g. pyrolysis, liquefaction, and gasification). We welcome submissions related to aspects including but not limited to the following topics:

• The levels and ecotoxicity of pollutants in manures and their derived products;
• Pollutant emission characteristics affected by processing parameters;
• Reaction paths for the synthesis or elimination of pollutants during the heat treatment of manure;
• The fate and transformation of pollutants and their mechanisms during the disposal process of livestock and poultry manure;
• New chemical technologies to remove or control pollutants in manure derivatives and during the heat treatment of manure;
• Ecological risk assessment and environmental impact of manures and their derived products;
• Environmental aspects, impacts and risk assessment of manure application on soil resources; and
• Effects of pollutants on the properties of energy products and fertilizer derived from manure;

Article types available for submission include original research articles, reviews or systematic reviews, perspectives, opinions, methods, and data reports.

Topic Editor Assoc. Prof. Xuan Wang holds patents relating to intelligent composting reactors. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

Keywords: manure, soil, pollutant, emission, fate, transformation, control, feedstock, energy, fertilizer, ecological, risk assessment, heat treatment, toxicity, ecotoxicity

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