The hindrance in the development of pit additive products for swine manure odor control - A review

This paper reviews the literature on the development of pit additive products for swine manure odor control. It addresses the problems currently, existing in the areas of both product designing and testing. Odors emitted from the swine manure storage system are complicated by the characteristics of many volatile organic compounds. A clear understanding of the major odorous compounds that serve as odor indicators is of great importance in developing quality odor control products. Past research has identified volatile fatty acids as indicators of malodor, however, the most recent studies showed that they still may be misleading. There exists a need of in-depth classification of the odorous compounds with respect to the inherent characteristics of these compounds. Lack of this information has already contributed to the blind development of pit additive products. Another hindrance is the lack of a standard procedure to scientifically evaluate pit additive products. Thus, more effort is needed in developing a procedure to test these products so information for the development of better pit additive products can be obtained.