P-40

The "Mest op Maat” (Dutch) or “tailor-made manure" project covers the whole value chain of raw manure to tailor-made fertilizer in Germany and The Netherlands. The focus is on transparent (regulation) and demand-driven processing of manure and digestate, using efficient technologies.

Motivation

The project area includes on the Dutch side the provinces Overijssel and Gelderland and an equal part on the German side. In this region there are more than 16 million pigs, which produce a total of 24,000,000 m³ of animal excrement each year. The potential money value of the fertilizer is around 230 million euros for pig manure alone. However, the manure have to be processed first before used as fertilizer and this leads to rising costs. Often there are different interpretations of international rules and legislation and conflicting legislation.

At the same time, there is a need for nutrients in regions with a lot of arable farming, which has led to an ever-increasing transport of animal excrement in recent years, especially across national borders. However, this is often not very efficient and economic.

An improved use of manure and digestate results in: (1) CO2-reduction by replacing artificial fertilizer, (2) better energetic use of available residues and (3) better transportability of nutrients. Additionally, the processed manure based fertilizer products contribute to the solution of the environmental problems related to the nutrient surplus.

Goals

The project aims to treat and process the manure on site by technical innovations, thereby significantly reducing the transport of manure across the border. The aim is to produce marketable products (regulated NPK fertilizer) that can be used as an equivalent replacement of artificial fertilizer in agricultural areas. With the further development of a fertilizer that is precisely adapted to the need, an excess of manure is effectively prevented.