Gunnar Palm

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Major

Animal and Veterinary Science

Advisor(s)

Robert Causey

Committee Members

Edward Bernard, Melissa Ladenheim

Graduation Year

May 2025

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to design a low cost, efficient, and small-scale receptacle designed to break down and separate manure and other organic solids from the inorganic bedding materials used by the University of Maine Witter Farm’s Chute Center. The design centered around the use of proof-of-concept application of each individual component, attempting to demonstrate the full-scale and practical use of the receptacle using five-gallon buckets. The design focused on the principles of water and wastewater treatment to separate organic solids from inorganic materials within an aqueous solution. The liquids would then be filtered out from the inorganic solids in order to reuse the materials within the Chute Center area bedding. The materials were separated by using their individual density within the water and then filtered using both mechanical and sedimentation methods to remove the water from the solids. This would essentially create a system known as a biofilter, which is a device to separate organic materials or pollutants out from water. Using the principles of biofiltration, this system was designed to have the organic solids broken down using microbes naturally found within the materials to break the solids down into smaller particles. The completion of the proof-of-concept design allows for the potential to save resources and provide an environmentally conscious solution to manure waste in a small-scale farm operation. The current method of manure disposal from the Chute Center creates both a waste safety hazard and the need for the eventual replacement of bedding materials lost over time with the disposal of manure waste from the facility. The motivations behind the design of this project will allow both proper disposal of hazardous manure materials, as well as reducing the cost of eventual bedding material replacement lost from improper disposal methods over time.

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