{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108041"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108041","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Design and evaluation of a biosecure composting system to dispose of swine mortalities during a foreign animal disease outbreak","abstract":"Composting is widely known as an effective method to dispose of both routine and diseased animal mortalities. Its capability of eliminating a wide variety of pathogens has led it to be used as the preferred disposal method during major poultry disease outbreaks, such as the 2014-2015 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the U.S., which remains to be the country’s largest animal health emergency to date. This thesis consists of three main chapters. The first chapter summarizes the major animal disease outbreaks in the world and the lessons learned from those outbreaks. The second chapter focuses on the adaption of a plastic-wrapped composting system developed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency during the 2004 HPAI outbreak in British Columbia to compost swine mortalities. Field-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the system’s performance. Two cover materials (ground cornstalks and woodchips) were tested using actively and passively aerated composting sheds. The mortalities were inoculated with Salmonella spp. and vaccine strains of Bovine Herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV). Air samples collected from the upper aeration duct (air outlet) during the first ten days of composting were negative, which indicated that aerosol transmission of the pathogens was limited. In the second study, lab-scale experiments were conducted to measure the physical parameters and airflow characteristics of three commonly used cover materials (woodchips, sawdust, and ground cornstalks) at four moisture levels, which could be utilized in designing actively aerated swine mortality composting systems during a disease outbreak (e.g., African swine fever). An inverse relationship (R2 ranged from 0.96 to 0.99) was found between permeability and bulk density, as increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in permeability. A linear relationship was found between the materials’ air-filled porosity and bulk density, in which increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in air-filled porosity. Only when cornstalks were used, the power required to aerate the compost material was significantly different at four moisture levels (P=0.008).","abstract_html":"Composting is widely known as an effective method to dispose of both routine and diseased animal mortalities. Its capability of eliminating a wide variety of pathogens has led it to be used as the preferred disposal method during major poultry disease outbreaks, such as the 2014-2015 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the U.S., which remains to be the country’s largest animal health emergency to date. This thesis consists of three main chapters. The first chapter summarizes the major animal disease outbreaks in the world and the lessons learned from those outbreaks. The second chapter focuses on the adaption of a plastic-wrapped composting system developed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency during the 2004 HPAI outbreak in British Columbia to compost swine mortalities. Field-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the system’s performance. Two cover materials (ground cornstalks and woodchips) were tested using actively and passively aerated composting sheds. The mortalities were inoculated with Salmonella spp. and vaccine strains of Bovine Herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV). Air samples collected from the upper aeration duct (air outlet) during the first ten days of composting were negative, which indicated that aerosol transmission of the pathogens was limited. In the second study, lab-scale experiments were conducted to measure the physical parameters and airflow characteristics of three commonly used cover materials (woodchips, sawdust, and ground cornstalks) at four moisture levels, which could be utilized in designing actively aerated swine mortality composting systems during a disease outbreak (e.g., African swine fever). An inverse relationship (R2 ranged from 0.96 to 0.99) was found between permeability and bulk density, as increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in permeability. A linear relationship was found between the materials’ air-filled porosity and bulk density, in which increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in air-filled porosity. Only when cornstalks were used, the power required to aerate the compost material was significantly different at four moisture levels (P=0.008).","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Da Cruz Costa, Tiago Henrique"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Agricultural & Biological Engr","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Akdeniz, Neslihan","Gates, Richard S.","Zhang, Yuanhui"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-08-26T21:58:04Z","date_published":"2020-08-26T21:58:04Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:47Z","subjects":["Biosecure","composting","disease","mortality","livestock","permeability"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2020 Tiago Da Cruz Costa"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108041","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Akdeniz, Neslihan","Gates, Richard S.","Zhang, Yuanhui"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Da Cruz Costa, Tiago Henrique"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-08-26T21:58:04Z","2022-09-09T05:00:00Z","2020-05-12","2020-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Agricultural & Biological Engr"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Biosecure","composting","disease","mortality","livestock","permeability"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2020 Tiago Da Cruz Costa"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108041"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Composting is widely known as an effective method to dispose of both routine and diseased animal mortalities. Its capability of eliminating a wide variety of pathogens has led it to be used as the preferred disposal method during major poultry disease outbreaks, such as the 2014-2015 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the U.S., which remains to be the country’s largest animal health emergency to date. This thesis consists of three main chapters. The first chapter summarizes the major animal disease outbreaks in the world and the lessons learned from those outbreaks. The second chapter focuses on the adaption of a plastic-wrapped composting system developed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency during the 2004 HPAI outbreak in British Columbia to compost swine mortalities. Field-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the system’s performance. Two cover materials (ground cornstalks and woodchips) were tested using actively and passively aerated composting sheds. The mortalities were inoculated with Salmonella spp. and vaccine strains of Bovine Herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV). Air samples collected from the upper aeration duct (air outlet) during the first ten days of composting were negative, which indicated that aerosol transmission of the pathogens was limited. In the second study, lab-scale experiments were conducted to measure the physical parameters and airflow characteristics of three commonly used cover materials (woodchips, sawdust, and ground cornstalks) at four moisture levels, which could be utilized in designing actively aerated swine mortality composting systems during a disease outbreak (e.g., African swine fever). An inverse relationship (R2 ranged from 0.96 to 0.99) was found between permeability and bulk density, as increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in permeability. A linear relationship was found between the materials’ air-filled porosity and bulk density, in which increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in air-filled porosity. Only when cornstalks were used, the power required to aerate the compost material was significantly different at four moisture levels (P=0.008).","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-08-25 without embargo terms","The student, Tiago Da Cruz Costa, accepted the attached license on 2020-05-11 at 20:39.","The student, Tiago Da Cruz Costa, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-05-11 at 20:47.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-05-12 at 15:47.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15342 on 2020-08-25 at 17:14:06","Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T21:58:04Z (GMT). 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This was approved by the Thesis Office.","Limited"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Design and evaluation of a biosecure composting system to dispose of swine mortalities during a foreign animal disease outbreak"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Akdeniz, Neslihan","Gates, Richard S.","Zhang, Yuanhui"],"dc:creator":["Da Cruz Costa, Tiago Henrique"],"dc:date":["2020-08-26T21:58:04Z","2022-09-09T05:00:00Z","2020-05-12","2020-05"],"dc:description":["Composting is widely known as an effective method to dispose of both routine and diseased animal mortalities. Its capability of eliminating a wide variety of pathogens has led it to be used as the preferred disposal method during major poultry disease outbreaks, such as the 2014-2015 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the U.S., which remains to be the country’s largest animal health emergency to date. This thesis consists of three main chapters. The first chapter summarizes the major animal disease outbreaks in the world and the lessons learned from those outbreaks. The second chapter focuses on the adaption of a plastic-wrapped composting system developed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency during the 2004 HPAI outbreak in British Columbia to compost swine mortalities. Field-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the system’s performance. Two cover materials (ground cornstalks and woodchips) were tested using actively and passively aerated composting sheds. The mortalities were inoculated with Salmonella spp. and vaccine strains of Bovine Herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV). Air samples collected from the upper aeration duct (air outlet) during the first ten days of composting were negative, which indicated that aerosol transmission of the pathogens was limited. In the second study, lab-scale experiments were conducted to measure the physical parameters and airflow characteristics of three commonly used cover materials (woodchips, sawdust, and ground cornstalks) at four moisture levels, which could be utilized in designing actively aerated swine mortality composting systems during a disease outbreak (e.g., African swine fever). An inverse relationship (R2 ranged from 0.96 to 0.99) was found between permeability and bulk density, as increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in permeability. A linear relationship was found between the materials’ air-filled porosity and bulk density, in which increasing bulk density resulted in a decrease in air-filled porosity. Only when cornstalks were used, the power required to aerate the compost material was significantly different at four moisture levels (P=0.008).","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-08-25 without embargo terms","The student, Tiago Da Cruz Costa, accepted the attached license on 2020-05-11 at 20:39.","The student, Tiago Da Cruz Costa, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-05-11 at 20:47.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-05-12 at 15:47.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15342 on 2020-08-25 at 17:14:06","Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T21:58:04Z (GMT). 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This was approved by the Thesis Office.","Limited"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108041"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2020 Tiago Da Cruz Costa"],"dc:subject":["Biosecure","composting","disease","mortality","livestock","permeability"],"dc:title":["Design and evaluation of a biosecure composting system to dispose of swine mortalities during a foreign animal disease outbreak"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Agricultural & Biological Engr"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:47Z"}