Alessandro Chiumenti

• Environmental Engineer, Ph.D.
• University of Udine

ABSTRACT. The present study aimed to improve the energetic sustainability of a small dairy farm located in Northern Italy. The research was conducted at laboratory and pilot scales. The lab-scale test, performed employing the BRS System (Bioprocesscontrol, Sweden) in batch for 40 days, at 38°C, aimed to determine the optimal biogas and biomethane p...

ABSTRACT. The present study aimed to improve the energetic sustainability of a small dairy farm located in Northern Italy. The research was conducted at laboratory and pilot scales. The lab-scale test, performed employing the BRS System (Bioprocesscontrol, Sweden) in batch for 40 days, at 38°C, aimed to determine the optimal biogas and biomethane p...

ABSTRACT. Manure management is strategic for improving the environmental sustainability of farming. Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been considered one of the most appealing technologies for the production of biogas or biomethane (or renewable natural gas - RNG), playing a significant contribution to the ecological transition. AD has been implemented...

Highlights Fish hatchery RAS thickened wastewater was successfully treated by anaerobic digestion. Traditional complete mix digester (CSTR) configuration was compared to the UAFF, an upflow anaerobic floating filter. UAFF start-up resulted faster and more productive than in conventional reactors (188 compared to 100 NmL CH 4 /g VS). At steady condi...

Biogas production and use can represent a win-win strategy providing multiple opportunities to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, while offering a range of important social, environmental and economic benefits. Nevertheless, as for other bioenergy pathways, biogas sustainability needs to be carefully assessed...

Featured Application AD applied to brackish water fish sludges can be a promising treatment process with quite good methane productions, increasing the economic and environmental sustainability of the sector. Abstract The development of intensive aquaculture is facing the challenge of the sustainable management of effluents. The reproductive secto...

For mushroom producers, compost is a fundamental resource representing the main cultivation substrate, but it also represents a cost at the end of each production cycle. This study reports the results of a pilot scale experiment of anaerobic digestion (AD) of spent mushroom cultivation substrate composed of compost and peat. The tests were performe...

In Italy, the majority of bioplastic bags used in food waste collection is made of starch-based biopolymer. The compostability of this material in a full-scale plant remains to be demonstrated, largely due to the fact that bioplastic bags are screened and removed together with conventional plastic bags during pre-treatment steps. The present resear...

Dairy farms are growing in several areas of the world, with consequent need for a modernization of milking equipment. The objective of this research is to evaluate milking parlors in current and future situations in modern farms. Several Italian farms were studied: three farms with side-by-side milking parlors (50 cows, 82 cows, and 100 cows), two...

Aquaculture fish production is experiencing an increasing trend worldwide and determines environmental concerns mainly related to the emission of pollutants. The present work is focused on the improvement of the sustainability of this sector by assessing the anaerobic digestion (AD) of slurry. Wastewater from experimental plants for the production...

Grass from landscape management or from agricultural practices is currently destined mainly for composting, with the production of a valuable product; however, this process demands energy. Anaerobic digestion, instead, represents an energy-positive process that results in the production of fuel, biogas, and a fertilizer, namely digestate. Previous...

Yard trimmings, landscape management and agricultural practices determine the collection of biomass currently destined mainly to the production of a valuable soil amendant by composting. While composting requires energy, especially for the turning/aeration phases and for air treatment (i.e., biofilters in the case of enclosed systems), anaerobic di...

The design of animal housing and manure management systems are key factors in livestock farming. Frequent removal methods, in fact, allow for the reduction of gasses produced from fermentations of the organic matter contained in manure, that affect animal welfare and farmer health and are emitted from animal housings into the atmosphere as a conseq...

Composting tests were performed on full scale systems treating liquid manure and digestate. Results show significant mass reduction along with nitrogen reduction as effect of complete denitrification.

Grass derived from landscape management or from agricultural practices, is currently destined mainly to composting with the production of a valuable product; however, the process demands energy. Alternatively, anaerobic digestion represents an energy positive process that results in the production of fuel, biogas, and a fertilizer, namely digestate...

Introducing a composting treatment of raw digestate could provide an interesting opportunity to facilitate the handling due to the volume reducing of by-products to dispose. In order to achieve the right conditions for the composting process, absorbing solid substrates are required. This work presents the preliminary results related to the technica...

Soil compaction is a critical issue in agriculture having a significant influence on crop growth. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is accounted as a crop susceptible to compaction. Reduction of leaf area, final yield, and root quality parameters are reported in compacted soils. The most obvious visual indicator of topsoil compaction is root depth affe...

For years, anaerobic digestion processes have been implemented for the management of organic wastes, agricultural residues, and animal manure. Wet anaerobic digestion still represents the most common technology, while dry fermentation, dedicated to the treatment of solid inputs (TS>20%) can be considered as an emerging technology, not in terms of t...

During the last decades, many dairy farmers have actively advanced their farms toward automation. Automatic concentrate dispensers and automatic milking systems (AMS) have been utilized for years, and several manufacturers have introduced automatic feeding systems (AFS). AFSs allow for the increase in frequency of feed distribution with significant...

Swine livestock farms represent potential sources of emissions of gaseous compounds and odors in relation to slurry management, manure treatment, and particularly, storage. Electrolytic treatments of slurries were proposed to solve this pressing problem. Electrolytic treatment consists of the passage of a low electric current through the liquid pha...

Feeding operations in dairy cow farms are of strategic importance for the economy of the farm. In addition to being strictly related to the productivity of the cows, feeding represents one of the greater costs for farms, considering that more than 25 % of labour time is dedicated to this operation. In a context characterized by the need for maintai...

Constant technological developments of remote sensing techniques utilizing drones (specifically of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAV) are increasing spatial and temporal resolution of data available for land and crop management. However, despite the promising potential, actual implementation of UAVs continues to be quite limited. Low costs and maintena...

A full-scale composting plant (track type, aerated by screws), treating liquid swine manure (94.8% on mass basis) with straw (<0.8%) and sawdust (4.4%), was monitored. The main objectives were testing the performance of the process and assessing its environmental sustainability. Particular attention was dedicated to verify the possibility that this...

In this work the gaseous emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and methyl mercaptan (CH3SH) produced from the nitritation/denitritation biological nutrient removal (BNR) process were determined in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The SBR treated the anaerobic supernatant produced from the anaerobic co-...

Recently, membrane filtration systems have been proposed for the treatment of animal manure and digestate to concentrate nutrients, especially nitrogen, in liquid and solid fractions. A full-scale plant, adopting ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) after mechanical screening and centrifugation, was monitored in order to assess the effecti...

Vacuum evaporation consists in the boiling of a liquid substrate at negative pressure, at a temperature lower than typical boiling temperature at atmospheric conditions. Condensed vapor represents the so called condensate, while the remaining substrate represents the concentrate. This technology is derived from other sectors and is mainly dedicated...

The first agricultural dry anaerobic digestion plant realized in Italy was monitored from the start-up, for over a year. The plant is fuelled by manure and other biomasses, corn silage in particular. The installed power is of about 910kWe. Biogas quality, biogas yield, energy production, labor requirement for loading and unloading operations were m...

Veneto Agricoltura coordinated, and the Veneto Region in Italy have financed, the RiduCaReflui Research Project, with the main objective of evaluating the most promising processes for treatment of digestate and farming effluents. Composting of liquid manure and/or digestate with the CLF MODIL Digester consists of processing liquid inputs on a bed o...

This study aims to present the results of a series of experimental tests performed with pilot scale digesters operating with swine manure: two digesters were conventional high load, completely mixed type, while the third digester was a hybrid type, with a fixed bed up-flow section. The tests were performed at mesophilic regime, with separated (filt...

Volume redatto nell'ambito del progetto di ricerca finanziato con contributo ai sensi dell'art. 7 della L.R. F.V.G. 11/2003 Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia

This chapter discusses the steps associated with compost and product preparation. One of the key purposes of equipment in composting is to provide the microorganisms responsible for the degradation with an optimum environment within the constraints brought about by financial feasibility. General experience in composting has shown that availability...

An April 2006 Directive in Europe sets new rules for management for farming residues in compliance with the European Nitrates Directive. The new regulation limits the quantity of manure that can be spread on land in relation to the concentration of nitrogen in farms. In order to comply, the implementation of various technologies that will replace t...

The purpose of research was to test the effectiveness of a prototype of a turning machine and to evaluate the feasability of a farm-scale composting process of the solid fraction of swine manure. A qualitative evaluation of the process and final product was made by monitoring the following parameters: process temperature, oxygen concentration insid...

The European Commission (EC) has issued several directives, guidelines and strategies associated with biological wastes that are significantly altering the solid waste management landscape of some member countries in the European Union (EU). The Landfill Directive and the Biowaste Directive as well as the Soil Protection Strategy have had a substan...

Thermo-hygrometric and ventilation parameters were monitored in rabbit farms equipped with different ventilation and cooling systems (longitudinal and transversal forced aeration, evaporative cooling pads made of cellulose or plastic elements). During the most critical period of the summer, the specific ventilation rate resulted to range from 6 to...

Today, there are in-vessel systems on the market to satisfy just about any processing need, whether based on scale, climate, cost or type of feedstock. These systems, so called bioreactors, are either vertical or horizontal. The latter is subdivided into horizontal reactors using channels, cells, containers and tunnels. Another type of vessel is th...

Experiments were conducted in finishing pig houses located in the Veneto Region (Po Valley, Northern Italy). The pig houses, which have fully slatted floor with slurry channels, are cleaned by means of a “vacuum system.” On the bottom of the channels, pipe outlets are placed every 10 m2 and connected to a sewerage system. Slurry is discharged by op...

Laying hen housing systems imposed by the 99/74/CE Directive are conceived to improve welfare of laying hens, so they could express natural behaviours, such as bitter-scratching, dust-bathing, egg-laying on nests. However, recent researches on enriched cage systems and deep-litter systems pointed out some negative aspects, like a worse egg quality,...

In the frame of CNR-MIUR National Program on "Recycling of agricutural-industrial wastes", three prototypes of turning machine were realized. The first and the second operated on the solid fraction of cat- tle, rabbit and poultry manure. The third prototype was further improved and operated on the solid fraction obtained from swine manure after liq...