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Logistics Network of Livestock Waste Management for Spatio-Temporal Control of Phosphorus Pollution in Water Bodies
Citation:
Hu, Y., W. Chan, V. Zavala, D. López-Díaz, AND Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado. Logistics Network of Livestock Waste Management for Spatio-Temporal Control of Phosphorus Pollution in Water Bodies. AIChE Enterprise & Infrastructure Resilience Conference, Cincinnati, OH, August 12 - 13, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Holistic management strategies of anthropogenic nutrient sources will be required to achieve a more comprehensive and permanent solution for nutrient pollution, resource and energy security, and reduce the human impact on the environment. This conference presentation describes the dynamic management of nutrient-rich organic waste by an optimized logistics network approach for recovering and repurposing nutrients, controlling nutrient pollution, and studying the effect of decisions made in the nutrient-rich waste logistics network on reducing the potential for harmful algal blooms.
Description:
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) pose severe health threats due to the release of toxins and the appearance of hypoxia in water bodies. Also, HABs lead to significant economic losses since they impact tourism, recreational and commercial activities. The key cause of HABs is nutrient pollution, especially phosphorus (P) for freshwater. The transport of nutrients to water bodies is a spatio-temporal phenomenon that involves multiple scales and is tightly related to the geography of croplands surrounding the water bodies and the use of fertilizers. We integrate multiple modeling tools to analyze the relationship between logistics network, nutrient transport, and HABs development. First, we conducted a systems-level analysis of P flows in the State of Wisconsin and observed that the P flows in agriculture and dairy activities are significantly larger than others (e.g., wastewater infrastructure), which cause significant P loss to the environment. In the logistics network, we capture balances and transformation of livestock waste and products at farms and cropland. The next component is a nutrient transport model, which can track the nutrient releases from both point and nonpoint sources to aquatic systems. The last component is an algal bloom prediction model that relates nutrient concentration and other natural factors (e.g., temperature) to HABs. Specifically, by designing an effective logistics network that stores, mobilizes, and processes livestock waste, it is possible to balance and recycle nutrients more effectively and control the timing of toxic bloom occurrence and identify which locations are suited to reduce the nutrient impact to ambient water.