Bioengineering and Environmental Engineering Current trends in the field of bio-aerosols and exhaust air treatment

To date it is still unclear whether bio-aerosol emissions from animal husbandry have negative influences on the health of residents in the vicinity of animal houses. However, for reasons of precaution, they are already taken into account in approval procedures for the construction of animal houses. The present conservative procedure for the calculation of potential immissions with dispersal models results, also because of insufficient input parameters, in overestimated values. As part of protection measures emissions can be reduced by exhaust air treatment systems. This technique has become considerably more important in the last 10 years and different systems are now available not only for pigs but also for poultry. Certified systems provide reduction of the most airborne micro-organisms about more than 90 % for pig and 70 % to 90 % for broiler husbandry systems.