The project aims at increasing farmyard manure decomposition from 50% to 75% through a composting-like treatment of the slowly degradeable part of manure to make biogas systems fed with pure manure competitive compared to systems fed with energy-intensive waste. First, the technology will be tested in pilot-scale and subsequently in full-scale.

Project manager:
Xergi A/S. Process Reasearch

Participants:
Novozymes A/S

Budget:
EDDP: DKK 1,861,000
Total budget: DKK 3,722,000

Completion:
1st quarter 2011

Results:

The objective of the project was to improve the efficiency of anaerobic digestion of dairy cattle manure. The project was a collaboration between Xergi and Novozymes and studied the effect of biological treatment and a patented thermo-chemical treatment (NiX®) either separately or in combination. The tests were carried out at lab scale (biological treatment) and pilot scale (combination of the two treatments). The substrate used was manure fibres separated from the degassed effluent from a full-scale plant operated on dairy cattle manure. The biological treatment consisted of aeration of the manure fibres after application of microorganisms (bacteria or fungi) with known ability to degrade fibres. The NiX® treatment consists of pressure cooking at 140°C and 4 bars with base addition.