Hydraulic behavior and chemical characterization of lapilli as material for natural filtering of slurry

Abstract

Livestock effluents are a beneficial nutrient supply for crops, whereby their use is critical to ensure the sustainability of the farms global management. However, they can cause serious ecological problems if misused, polluting soils and groundwater. Combining "soft technology" and local materials is a low cost solution in terms of finance and energy. The REAGUA project (REuso AGUA, Water reuse in Spanish) analyzes the possibility of using "picon" (lapilli) as a material for the treatment of liquid manure from ruminants, for later use in subsurface drip irrigation system to produce forage and biofuels, in which the soil acts as a subsequent advanced treatment. A three-phase system, in which the effluent was poured with a vertical subsurface flow in an unsaturated medium, is designed. In order to determine the management conditions that optimize the filter, it was necessary to characterize the hydraulic behavior of lapilli and its ability to remove substances. Using three lapilli-filled columns, unsaturated flux, and a ruminant effluent, the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand after 5 days (BOD5) and ammonia, phosphorus and suspension solids (SS) obtained was over 80%, 90%, and 95% respectively, assumable values for irrigation.