Odor emission characteristics in anaerobic high temperature burial composting of swine carcasses

돼지 사체의 혐기적 고온 매몰퇴비화법에서의 악취발생 특성

It is very important to treat infected livestock carcasses safely and quickly. In this study, the degradation characteristics and odor generation characteristics of carcasses were investigated during the treatment of swine carcasses using the anaerobic burial composting method. While the carcasses were decomposed, the temperature remained high, at $40{\sim}55^{\circ}C$ on average, and most of the carcasses were decomposed rapidly. The major odor-contributing substances in the buried composting method are sulfuric odor substances such as $H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), and the odor contribution of these substances is 93~99%. Among them, $CH_3SH$, which accounts for about 56~89% of odor contribution, was the most representative indicator substance. Despite the anaerobic digestion process, the methane concentration in the digestion process was as low as 0.5~0.8% at the burial point of the carcass. The odor and methane produced during the decomposition of the carcasses decreased considerably during the discharge to the surface layer through the buried layer consisting of compost. These results suggest that anaerobic high temperature burial composting is one of the most useful methods to treat carcasses of infected livestock.