Management of Animal Carcass Disposal Sites Using a Biochar Permeable Reactive Barrier and Fast Growth Tree ( Populus euramericana ): A Field Study in Korea

Jung-Hwan Yoon, Young-Nam Kim, Dong-Chun Shin, Kwon-Rae Kim and Kye-Hoon Kim
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Jung-Hwan Yoon: Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea
Young-Nam Kim: Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea
Dong-Chun Shin: BYUCKSAN Engineering, Seoul 07286, Korea
Kwon-Rae Kim: Department of Agronomy & Medicinal Plant Resources, Gyeong Nam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju-si 52725, Korea
Kye-Hoon Kim: Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Among many disposal options of animal carcasses due to animal diseases including foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and avian influenza (AI), on-farm burial has been the most frequently used one in Korea. Animal carcasses generate contaminants such as ammonium-N and chloride. This study aimed at testing biochar (BC) as a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) material in combination with fast growing tree species ( Populus euramericana ) to mitigate groundwater pollution from animal burial sites. For this, a PRB filled with BC was installed and 400 poplar tree ( P. euramericana ) seedlings were planted. Tested BC was obtained from rice husk and its efficiency to mitigate contaminant migration from a burial site of pig carcasses was tested using ammonium-N, chloride, electrical conductivity (EC), and pH as monitoring parameters. Monitoring wells downstream from the burial site were used. Leachates from a monitoring well, three wells inside the burial site close to PRB and three wells outside the burial site close to PRB were sampled and analyzed for ammonium-N, Cl − , EC, and pH for four years from PRB installation. The pH, EC, and ammonium-N of leachate fluctuated during the test period depending on precipitation. pH, EC, and ammonium-N of the leachate samples collected from outside of the burial site close to PRB decreased compared to those from inside of the burial site close to PRB. The concentrations of ammonium-N in the leachate from the monitoring well kept under the threshold value of 10 mg·L −1 for two years from PRB construction. In addition, the growth of poplar plants appeared to be increased via uptaking available N and P released from the burial sites. Achieved results suggest that BC PRBs can be used to in situ mitigate contaminant release from buried animal carcasses.

Keywords: biochar; contaminants leaching; groundwater quality; livestock disease; on-farm burial; permeable reactive barriers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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