Improvement of human health and environmental costs in the European Union by air scrubbers in intensive pig farming

Intensive pig farming is responsible for significant air pollutant emissions. This study explores the effect that the large-scale implementation of air cleaning technologies (wet acid scrubbers) for pig housing facilities could have in the European Union. Emissions related to the housing stage of NH3, PM10, NMVOC and indirect N2O from large pig farms (>1000 heads of sows or fattening pigs) are first estimated in the actual situation (current scenario - CS), considering implementation rates and removal efficiencies of the different emission abatement techniques available. Subsequently, alternative scenarios (AS1 and AS2) are simulated with a growing implementation rate of the wet acid scrubber (35% and 65% of the concerned pig farms in all Member States). A comparison between the scenarios was carried out, taking into account emissions reduction, consumables for scrubber operation and environmental credit given by the avoidance of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer production. The annual impact on human health of 21,212 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) in CS was significantly reduced in AS1 (-15%) and in AS2 (-40%), showing that the environmental trade-off given by the consumables is largely overwhelmed by emission abatement. At the same time, the current environmental cost to society of the concerned emissions was estimated at 4154 million € per year (of which 89% due to NH3), which also was reduced in alternative scenarios (−668 and −1765 million € for AS1 and AS2). The abatement of NH3, on which the wet acid scrubber expresses the greatest removal efficiency, was fundamental in both reducing the human health impact and environmental costs, demonstrating the key environmental role of this pollutant and the growing need to find solutions for its containment in the EU.