ASABE Technical Library - Abstract
Member and Access Notice
Valuable Organic Liquid Fertilizer Manufacturing through TAOTM Process for Swine Manure Treatment
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: Paper number 032253, 2003 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.14964) @2003Authors: Myung-Gyu Lee, Gi-Cheol Cha
Keywords: TAO, Auto-thermal aerobic digestion, Swine manure, Organic fertilizer, Plant growth, Fertilizer effect, Concentration, Membranes
TAOTM System is an auto-heated thermophilic aerated digestion process using a
proprietary microbe called as a Phototropic Bacteria (PTB). High metabolic activity results in heat
generation, which enables to produce a pathogen-free and digested liquid fertilizer at short retention
times. TAOTM system has been developed to reduce a manure volume and convert into the liquid
fertilizer using swine manure since 1992. About 100 units have been installed and operated in
Korean swine farms so far.
TAOTM system consists of a reactor vessel and ejector-type aeration pumps and foam removers. The
swine slurry manure enters into vessel with PTB and is mixed and aerated. The process is operated
at detention times from 2 to 4 days and temperature of 55 to 65oC. Foams are occurred and broken
down by foam removers to evaporate water contents. Generally, at least 30% of water content is
evaporated, 99% of volatile fatty acids caused an odor are removed and pathogen destruction is
excellent with fecal coliform, rotavirus and salmonella below detection limits.
The effluent from TAOTM system, called as the TAO EFFLUX, is screened and has superb
properties as a fertilizer. Normally N-P-K contents of screened TAO EFFLUX are 4.7 g/L, 0.375 g/L
and 2.8 g/L respectively. The fertilizer effect of TAO EFFLUX compared to chemical fertilizer has
been demonstrated and studied with various crops such as rice, potato, cabbage, pumpkin, green pepper, parsley, cucumber and apple. Generally it has better fertilizer effects and excellent soil
fertility improvement effects.
Moreover, the TAO EFFLUX is concentrated through membrane technology without fouling problems
for a cost saving of long distance transportation and a commercialization (crop nutrient commodity)
to a gardening market, for example.