Primozone and PAOR solve wastewater challenge for BOk pig farm in South Korea.

Livestock farming plays an essential role in economic development for many countries.

In the Asian region, livestock provides a significant stimulus to agriculture development through manure, fuel, as well as fertilizers. Livestock farming presents many undisputable opportunities but then again challenges that farmers need to face. One of the challenges that we would like to focus on is the harmful impact of the discharge of the livestock wastewater into ecological system.

Characteristics of livestock wastewater.

Livestock wastewater contains a high amount of color, COD, BOD, nitrogen and suspended solids, among others. Important to take into consideration that during routine daily operation of a farm, a significant amount of wastewater is produced, this water is a primary source of pollution of ground and surface water when discharged untreated into the environment. Numerous technological solutions had been employed by farmers to treat the discharge water to comply with regulatory thresholds and alleviate the impact on the environment.

The Bok pig farm.

The Bok pig farm that is located outside Cheongyang, the city in South Korea, faced with wastewater discharge challenge has recently invested in a modern and technologically advanced treatment plant, which allows having a chemical-free process.

Bok pig farm is home to up to 5000 pigs, which reach the barn as some 30 kg pigs. The farm has a policy of zero antibiotics or pharmaceutics as the additive to the animal diet which only consists of natural ingredients, with primary being corn, the pigs are being monitored daily to ensure good health and growth.

After a period of approximately three months and reaching the weight of about 100 kg, the pigs are market ready to leave the farm.  During this period, the pigs produce a large volume of wastewater. The total amount ca 20m3 per day with a COD value of approximately 400mg/l. The authorized threshold for discharge of wastewater provided by The Ministry of Environment of South Korea is set to 50mg/l. The objective of Bok pig farm, however, is to reduce the threshold to 30mg/l before they feel comfortable to discharge it.

Ozone step in livestock wastewater treatment process.

The process is build up in 5 steps

The first two steps of the process are typical for the treatment of wastewater, yet what is slightly unusual is the adoption of the membrane filtration to avoid chemicals. The reverse osmosis is added to remove nitrogen from the water.

PAOR design of the ozone step

Primozone partner PAOR had been responsible for the design of the ozone step, PAOR had been successfully implementing this solution on several livestock applications in South Korea already. The ozone step consists of a re-circulating tank, where the precise dosage of high concentration ozone is applied. The high concentration of ozone enables the ozone to dissolve efficiently in the water; thus, get the COD level to below 30 mg/l. 

Mr. T Pak, Project Manager PAOR. 

“Livestock application means harsh environment for the equipment. We are pleased with the Primozone ozone generator, as we could experience the benefits of this technology immediately. Since Primozone unit cools both reactor and the power supplier inside the cabinet, there is no need for ventilation in the electrical cabinets, which had been a cause of failure of traditional ozone generators in our experience. The compact size also makes it easy to place the generator in the room, and since there is almost no need for maintenance, we do not need to reserve extra space to be able to exchange or clean parts.”

Contact Primozone to know how we can help you treat your livestock wastewater.