Circular Nutrient Management
Installation and commissioning of equipment necessary for fractionating nutrients present in slurry produced by Harper Adam’s 400-strong dairy herd was completed in March. Above, members of CAFRE and DAERA visiting Harper Adams Dairy unit as part of a Farming for Sustainability Innovation Scheme event were shown elentecBio’s newly installed nutrient recovery unit.
ElentecBio in collaboration with Harper Adams University have now begun long-term processing of slurry to produce shreds, P-rich cake, N-rich liquid, and water. Extraction and subsequent purification of water from the slurry can reduce its volume by 30-50%. Whilst separate storage will be required for the N-rich and P-rich-fractions, overall slurry storage requirements are reduced. In the coming months costs and maintenance requirements of continuous processing will be collected.
To assess bioavailability of the nutrient fractions pot trials with Italian rye grass and wheat have begun at Harper Adams. Crop growth characteristics of plants treated with each fraction, artificial fertiliser, or untreated controls will be assessed.
Online information and Q and A session
In March a 30-minute webinar “Is slurry management limiting your nutrient strategy or storage capacity?” was hosted by the School of Sustainable Food and Farming. An overview of elentecBio’s process and technology was covered as well as progress towards its commercialisation. A Q and A session followed with elentecBio CEO Jayne Brookman, Technical Director Duarte Tito, and lead researcher at Harper Adams University Marie Kirby.
Questions raised by stakeholders covered: Environment Agency permitting, planning permissions, farmers grants, bioavailability of fractions, storage, application, and access to the technology. The panel’s answers to these questions can be found in a FAQs file.
The FAQs file and a recording of the webinar can be viewed on the website. https://elentecbioag.com
This research project is funded by DEFRA as part of their Farming Innovation Programme Nutrient Management competition and is managed via Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.
