Integrated and Cost-Effective Solution to reduce t.. (EfficientHeat)
Integrated and Cost-Effective Solution to reduce the volume of Pig Slurry, minimize Pollutant Emissions and Process Energy Consumption
(EfficientHeat)
Start date: Oct 1, 2011,
End date: Sep 30, 2013
PROJECT
FINISHED
The increase of EU pig production and the intensification of its practice resulted of an increase of pigwaste production. In 2008, more than 930 million m3 of pig slurry was produced in the EU. Pigs areraised indoor and the manure collected is mostly slurry. Pig farmers need to treat a great volume ofresidue with high viscosity and variable physico-chemical composition. The leaks and air emissionsassociated to pig slurries storage and handling lead to new socio-economic and environmentalchallenges. In response to these manure handling problems, guidelines and regulations have beenintroduced in many EU countries. In order to comply with these regulations, farmers are forced tochange farming practices by investing in manure storage and disposal facilities and manuretreatments which increase the total production costs. In order to increase their competitiveness, pigfarmers in Europe must reduce the waste volume and the costs associated with waste treatment andtransport. Besides, this sector faces technical limitations of the treatment equipment, many timeassociated with fouling formation. Treatment technologies are used on larger farms (e.g. separation,composting systems, evaporation, anaerobic treatments and aeration to reduce nitrogen surplus andodours). None of the current technologies is close to an optimal solution and present importanttechnological and economical obstacles that avoid them to be adopted by the SMEs sized pigfarmers. There is a need of finding an integrated and efficient solution to reduce the volume of pigslurry, minimize pollutants emission and optimizing energy consumption during the treatment process.The aims of EfficientHeat is to develop an affordable technology for all types of farmers whichreduces the transportation cost, currently accountings for almost 60% of the total processing costs.EfficientHeat will also permit an increase of the energy efficiency up to 20% and the abatement ofemissions (N-compounds) reducing foul odours. Additionally, EfficientHeat will also provide fornutrient recovery for recycling and reuse.
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