Treat2ReUse · Treatment of Animal Waste to Reduce Gaseous Emissions and Promote Nutrient Reuse

Treatment of Animal Waste to Reduce Gaseous Emissions and Promote Nutrient Reuse

There is an increasing concern about the impacts that agriculture has on the environment and on public health. Agriculture is responsible for a significant proportion of the global gaseous emissions, being livestock production the largest contributor to ammonia (NH3) emissions of increased concern in the EU. During last decades, livestock production has been intensified in response to a greater demand for food from a more populated world. These intensified operations produce large amount of animal slurries with the consequent impact on the environment, and therefore proper manure management technologies to reduce gaseous emissions are needed. However, less than 8% of the livestock manure produced in Europe is processed, with large variations within regions. Furthermore, properly treated manure could serve as a valuable source of organic matter and nutrients for fertilizing crops and for energy production, replacing current fossil-based products. Acidification of slurries is one of the treatments that is currently being implemented at farm scale in different countries in Europe to reduce ammonia and methane volatilization. However, there are drawbacks associated to the use of sulfuric acid in this practice. In one hand, even if sulfuric acid is one of the cheapest inorganic acids in the market, the treatment is still a cost for the farmer and the use of such a strong acid is hazardous. Additionally, acidified slurry using sulfuric acid can not be used as fertilizer in organic farming. Organic farms under current EU organic certification schemes are not allowed to use synthetic acids, and these farms also need to reduce their ammonia emissions and increase slurry fertilizer value. Furthermore, the use of acidified slurries with sulfuric acid for biogas production prohibits their extensive use due to the high content in sulphur. Therefore, there is a need for an alternative to the current acidification technology to facilitate proper slurry treatment and reuse of acidified slurries. The current project aimed to develop a new and efficient treatment technology to reduce environmental impacts from animal manure. This technology would have a substantial contribution for a more sustainable and environmental friendly agriculture practice, with an added economic value from the reuse of treated manures to replace mineral fertilizer, contributing to a biobased and circular economy.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз