Analysis on the Optimum Location of an Wet Air Cleaner in a Livestock House using CFD technology

ABSTRACT In South Korea, as the living standard has been getting higher, meat consumption is steadily increasing. To meet the country's demand, livestock houses become larger and wider with increased raising density. In larger livestock houses, pollutants such as flake of pig skin, excrement, odor, various dusts and noxious gas like ammonia are excessively accumulated inside the facility. These will cause weak immunity for the pigs, diminution of productivity and degeneration of working condition. These problems can be solved through the ventilation performance of the facility. In the winter time, ventilation must be controlled to minimum to maintain a suitable thermal condition. However, this affects the other internal environmental condition because of the minimum ventilation. The installation of “wet air cleaner” especially in the winter time can be an alternative solution. For efficient application of this machine, there is a need to understand the existing ventilation condition and analyze the interaction of existing ventilation system with the wet air cleaner considering its appropriate location. In this study, the existing ventilation system as well as the internal environmental condition negatively inside the facility with the wet air cleaner has been studied using CFD technology. The CFD simulation model was validated from the study conducted by Seo et al. (2008). Results show that the elimination rate of ammonia was 39.4 % and stability could be improved to 35.1 % (Comparing case 5 to 1 where wet air cleaner machine was not used). It can therefore be concluded that case 5 shows the optimum location of a wet air cleaner in the livestock house.