Enhancing Air Quality and Water Treatment through Sustainable Orchard Wood Utilization and Vermifiltration Systems

Abstract Description: Washington is a world leader in orchard production. Washington state grows 58% of apples in the U.S., producing 125 million 40-pound boxes of apples annually. Each year orchards must prune and make decisions on tearing out old orchards to replace them with new varieties. The common management practice is to burn orchard debris to prevent pest infestations and disease, but it creates substantial air pollution. This study investigates the potential to chip orchard debris to provide source material for vermifiltration wastewater processing systems. Small wood chips are preferred in other vermifiltation systems focused on toxic chemicals that we are calling PERCA Vermi-treatment. Data collected from lab testing and the system installed at a juice bottling plant in Walla Walla, WA is showing a 80%+ reduction in Total Suspended Solids, Biological Oxygen Demand Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) to measure the ability of both substrates to remove toxic chemicals from the wastewater in the vermifiltration system. The production costs of chipping an apple orchard tear out and the yield of large and fine wood chips are evaluated as a total cost and cost per acre accounting for variable factors such as orchard tree density, size and age. This research promotes environmental sustainability - in an agriculturally Industrial Symbiotic system - by utilizing chipped wood fines from fruit tree orchard tear-outs and integrating them into an innovative wastewater treatment system. By reducing agricultural burning, improving air quality, and contributing to the development of a closed-loop economy with value-added product potential, the Perca Vermifiltration system has the strong potential to promote agriculture regenerative practices.