Development of an aerator module for surface aeration to control odor from liquid manure storage facilities

Aerator modules composed of venture air injectors connected in both parallel and series to study oxygen transfer efficiency were examined using water tests and the results indicated that the parallel design generally performed better than the series design in terms of transferring oxygen into water, with the oxygen transfer coefficients found to be 9.67 and 5.93 h ^-1 for two- and three-aerator parallel modules, as opposed to 4.54, 3.79, and 3.63 h ^-1 for one-, two-, and three-aerator series modules. Similarly, higher aeration efficiencies were also observed for the parallel design of the two modules (0.14 and 0.10 kgO ₂/kWh) as compared to those in the series design (0.07, 0.06, and 0.06 kgO ₂/kWh). The parallel module with two air injectors achieved the highest aeration efficiency (0.14 kgO ₂/kWh), which was two times the highest efficiency reached by the series modules (0.07 kgO ₂/kWh). In the same way, the oxygenation capacities were also significantly higher for parallel modules (0.22 and 0.15 kgO ₂/h) than for series modules (0.10, 0.09, and 0.09 kgO ₂/h). The data suggest that more research effort should be invested in exploring the possibility of using inexpensive aerators through better designs of the air injector complex in order to develop inexpensive aeration systems.