Decline of phosphorus, copper, and zinc in anaerobic swine lagoon columns receiving pretreated influent

ABSTRACT Land application of both anaerobic lagoon liquid and sludge can increase nutrient accumulation beyond the soil’s assimilative capacity and become a threat to water quality in regions with intensive, confined swine production. In a 15-month meso-scale column study, we evaluated the effect of manure pretreatment on the reduction of total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), soluble reactive P (SRP), and total copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in swine lagoons using (i) enhanced solid-liquid separation (SS) and (ii) solid-liquid separation plus biological nitrogen treatment with nitr...