Abstract
Dairy processing wastewater treatment sludge (DPWTS) is applied to grassland to recycle valuable nutrients and organic matter. Until recently the chemical composition of the dominant DPWTS types (calcium, aluminium or iron rich) was unknown, but the latest study (Ashekuzzaman et al. in J Clean Prod 230:1266–1275, 2019) indicates that DPWTS has high nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content and their inherent chemical properties may influence their availability and losses. Herein for the first time edge of field-losses and plant-available P changes are simulated in an agitator test 48 h after application. In terms of overall losses, metals are not of concern across treatment types, iron-rich DPWTS has the highest losses in terms of concentration of ammonium-N and carbon, whereas calcium-rich DPWTS has the highest dissolved reactive P (DRP) losses but lowest losses of ammonium-N and carbon. The loss of DRP was found to be strongly positively associated with the increase in water-extractable P, degree of P saturation, Morgan’s and Mehlich-3 extractable phosphorus (Pm, M3-P), respectively. Runoff concentrations presented here represent edge of field-losses and may not represent final concentrations entering a surface waterbody. In terms of plant-available P, there were no negative effects with Pm exhibiting a positive trend across DPWTS types and soils. In particular, a significant increase was found for the calcium-rich DPWTS across all soils (average increase in Pm by fivefold). As applying DPWTS to grassland is an understudied area, further field trials should focus on emissions to air and water and examine the fertilizer value from N and P perspectives. Thus a better management of DPWTS as fertiliser can be maintained from an agronomic and environmental context.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ANZECC and ARMCANZ (2000) Australian and New Zealand guidelines for fresh and marine water quality, volume 2, chapter 8, page 8.3–161. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand, Canberra. https://www.waterquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/anzecc-armcanz-2000-guidelines-vol2.pdf. Accessed on 22 Aug 2019
APHA (2005) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 21st edn. American Public Health Association, Washington
Arvanitoyannis IS, Giakoundis A (2007) Current strategies for dairy waste management: a review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 46:379–390
Ashekuzzaman SM, Jiang J-Q (2018) Use of Ca- and Mg-type layered double hydroxide adsorbent to reduce phosphate concentration in secondary effluent of domestic wastewater treatment plant. Desalin Water Treat 127:64–70
Ashekuzzaman SM, Forrestal P, Richards K, Fenton O (2019) Dairy industry derived wastewater treatment sludge: generation, type and characterization of nutrients and metals for agricultural reuse. J Clean Prod 230:1266–1275
Brennan RB, Fenton O, Grant J, Healy MG (2011a) Impact of chemical amendment of dairy cattle slurry on phosphorus, suspended sediment and metal loss to runoff from a grassland soil. Sci Total Environ 409:5111–5118
Brennan RB, Fenton O, Rodgers M, Healy MG (2011b) Evaluation of chemical amendments to control phosphorus losses from dairy slurry. Soil Use Manag 27:238–246
Brennan RB, Healy MG, Grant J, Ibrahim TG, Fenton O (2012) Incidental phosphorus and nitrogen loss from grassland plots receiving chemically amended dairy cattle slurry. Sci Total Environ 441:132–140
Britz TJ, Van Schalkwyk C, Hung YT (2006) Treatment of dairy processing waste waters. In: Wang LK, Hung YT, LoH H, Yapijakis C (eds) Waste treatment in the food processing industry. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, USA, pp 1–28
BSI (British Standards Institution) (1990) British standard methods of test for soils for civil engineering purposes. Determination of particle size distribution. BS 1377. BSI, London
DAFM (2017) Nitrates explanatory handbook for good agricultural practice for the protection of Waters Regulations 2018. Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Wexford, Ireland. https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/ruralenvironment/environment/nitrates/2018Nitratesexplanatoryhandbook03042018.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec 2019
EC (European Commission) (2001) Disposal and recycling routes for sewage sludge. Part 2- Regulatory Report, European Commission, October 2001. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/waste/sludge/pdf/sludge_disposal2.pdf. Accessed 18 Dec 2019
EC (European Commission) (2009) Guidance Document on Eutrophication Assessment, Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), Guidance Document No 23, Technical Report
Elliott HA, O’Connor GA (2007) Phosphorus management for sustainable biosolids recycling in the United States. Soil Biol Biochem 39:1318–1327
Elliott HA, Brandt RC, O’Connor GA (2005) Runoff phosphorus losses from surface-applied biosolids. J Environ Qual 34:1632–1639
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) (2012) EPA drinking water guidance on disinfection by-products Advice Note No. 4. Version 2, Disinfection By-Products in Drinking Water. EPA, Wexford, Ireland. http://www.epa.ie/pubs/advice/drinkingwater/DrinkingWaterGuide4_v8.pdf. Accessed 17 Dec 2019
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) (2015) Water quality in Ireland Report 2010 to 2012. EPA, Wexford, Ireland. www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/water/waterqua/wqr20102012/. Accessed 24 Aug 2016
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) (2018) Water quality in 2016: an indicators report. Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland. http://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/water/waterqua/Water%20Quality%20in%202016%20An%20Indicators%20Report.pdf. Accessed 22 Aug 2019
FAO (2017) Water pollution from agriculture: a global review. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome and the International Water Management Institute on behalf of the Water Land and Ecosystems research program Colombo. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7754e.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec 2019
Fehily Timoney and Company (1999) Codes of good practice for the use of biosolids in agriculture-guidelines for farmer. http://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/migrated-files/en/Publications/Environment/Water/FileDownLoad%2C17228%2Cen.pdf. Accessed Mar 14 2018
Fenton O, Serrenho A, Healy MG (2011) Evaluation of amendments to control phosphorus losses in runoff from dairy-soiled water. Water Air Soil Pollut 222:185–194
Kleinman P, Sullivan D, Wolf A, Brandt R, Dou Z, Elliott H, Kovar J, Leytem A, Maguire R, Moore P, Saporito L, Sharpley A, Shober A, Sims T, Toth J, Toor G, Zhang H, Zhang T (2007) Selection of a water-extractable phosphorus test for manures and biosolids as an indicator of runoff loss potential. J Environ Qual 36:1357–1367
Lentz RD, Lehrsch GA (2014) Manure and fertilizer effects on carbon balance and organic and inorganic carbon losses for an irrigated corn field. Soil Sci Soc Am J 78:987–1002
Leytem AB, Sims JT, Coale FJ (2004) Determination of phosphorus source coefficients for organic phosphorus sources: laboratory studies. J Environ Qual 33:380–388
Lucid JD, Fenton O, Healy MG (2013) Estimation of maximum biosolids and meat and bone meal application to a low P index soil and a method to test for nutrient and metal losses. Water Air Soil Pollut 224:1464–1475
Maguire RO, Sims JT (2002) Measuring agronomic and environmental soil phosphorus saturation and predicting phosphorus leaching with Mehlich 3. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:2033–2039
Mehlich A (1984) Mehlich 3 soil test extractant: a modification of Mehlich 2 extractant. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 15:1409–1416
Morgan MF (1941) Chemical soil diagnosis by the universal soil testing system. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 450. https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/DOCUMENTS/Publications/Bulletins/B450pdf.pdf?la=en. Accessed 18 Dec 2019
Mulqueen J, Rodgers M, Scally P (2004) Phosphorus transfer from soil to surface waters. Agric Water Manag 68:91–105
O’Flynn CJ, Fenton O, Healy MG (2012) Evaluation of amendments to control phosphorus losses in runoff from pig slurry applications to land. Clean Soil Air Water 40:164–170
O’Flynn CJ, Fenton O, Wall D, Brennan RB, McLaughlin MJ, Healy MG (2018) Influence of soil phosphorus status, texture, pH and metal content on the efficacy of amendments to pig slurry in reducing phosphorus losses. Soil Use Manag 34:1–8
Peyton DP, Healy MG, Fleming GTA, Grant J, Wall DP, Morrison L, Cormican M, Fenton O (2016) Nutrient, metal and microbial loss in surface runoff following treated sludge and dairy cattle slurry application to an Irish grassland soil. Sci Total Environ 541:218–229
Regan JT, Rodgers M, Healy MG, Kirwan L, Fenton O (2010) Determining phosphorus and sediment release rates from five Irish tillage soils. J Environ Qual 39:1–8
Ryan MP, Walsh G (2016) The characterisation of dairy waste and the potential of Whey for industrial fermentation. EPA Research Report, Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland
S.I. No 148/1998 Statutory Instrument S.I. No 148 of 1998 (1998) Waste management (use of sewage sludge in agriculture) regulations. Available online (Accessed 03/02/2019): www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1998/si/148/made/en/print?q¼WasteþManagementþ%UseþofþSewageþSludgeþinþAgriculture%252529þRegulations%Cþ1998
S.I. No. 278 (2007) European Communities (Drinking Water) (No. 2) Regulations 2007, page 22. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2007/si/278/made/en/pdf. Accessed 18 Dec 2019
S.I. No. 122 (2014) European Union (Drinking Water) Regulations 2014, page 24. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/si/122/made/en/pdf. Accessed 22 Aug 2019
S.I. No 31/2014 Statutory Instrument S.I. No 31 of 2014 (2014) European Union (Good agricultural practice for protection of waters) Regulations. www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/ruralenvironment/environment/nitrates/SI31of2014290114.pdf. Accessed 03 Feb 2019
Slavoc AK (2017) General characteristics and treatment possibilities of dairy wastewater—a review. Food Technol Biotechnol 55:14–28
Sullivan DM, Cogger CG, Bary AI (2015) Fertilising with biosolids. A Pacific North west Extension Publication, Oregon State University, Washington State University, University of Idaho. www.catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/. Accessed 03 July 2017
Teagasc Greenbook (2016) Major and micro nutrient advice for productive agricultural crops. In: Johnstown Castle Wall DP, Plunkett M (eds) (Wexford: Teagasc; Environment Research Centre), p 81
USEPA (1996) SW-846 Test Method 3052: Microwave Assisted Acid Digestion of Siliceous and Organically Based Matrices. United States Environmental Protection Agency
Zhong J, Stevens DK, Hansen CL (2015) Optimization of anaerobic hydrogen and methane production from dairy processing waste using a two-stage digestion in induced bed reactors (IBR). Int J Hydrog Energy 40:15470–15476
Acknowledgements
This work has received funding from Enterprise Ireland and the Dairy Industry Partners in Ireland under Dairy Processing Technology Centre (DPTC) programme. Grant Agreement Number TC2014 0016. We would like to thank DPTC associated dairy industry partners - Kerry Group, Arrabawn Co-op, Carbery Foods, Tipperary Co-op, Lakeland Dairies, Dairygold, Glanbia and Aurivo for supplying samples. Thanks to Denis Brennan, Linda Moloney Finn, Carmel O’Connor and Brendan Healy from Teagasc Johnstown Castle Research Centre for help and advice during sample analysis. Also, we appreciate help from John Murphy and Matthias Bacher to identify different soil types and getting soil cores from the field.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: Josef Trögl.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ashekuzzaman, S.M., Forrestal, P., Richards, K. et al. Potential loss of nutrients, carbon and metals in simulated runoff associated with dairy processing sludge application. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 17, 3955–3968 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02768-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02768-z