FERTIMANURE – Innovative nutrient recovery from secondary sources – Production of high-added value FERTIlisers from animal MANURE

More than 90 % of the manure produced by livestock farms in the EU is used for land fertilisation. However, this process is inefficient.

The EU-funded FERTIMANURE project intends to develop, test and estimate advanced nutrient management strategies to produce competitive fertilisers that contribute to good yield. Their goal is to recycle valuable nutrients from livestock manure and produce bio-based fertilisers. FERTIMANURE will be deployed in five of the EU’s biggest livestock production countries, namely Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. Outcomes should help promote this circular economy model for the EU agriculture sector.

Total farm livestock population in Europe excrete around 1400 Mt of manure annually. More than 90% of manure produced is returned to agricultural fields. However, this is not being done in the most efficient and least leaky way.

FERTIMANURE will develop, integrate, test and validate innovative Nutrient Management Strategies to efficiently recover mineral nutrients and other products with agronomic value from manure, to finally obtain reliable and safe fertilisers that can compete in the EU fertilizers market. FERTIMANURE focuses on “How to improve the agronomic use of recycled nutrients from livestock manure” to reconnect nutrient flows between plant and livestock production.

Nutrient recycling relies not only in the technologies for producing bio-based fertilisers, but also in a better understanding and managing nutrients at the farm.

The ambition of FERTIMANURE is to cover both technological approach for nutrient recovery and nutrient management. To this end, the technological approach will be covered by the implementation of 5 innovative & integrated nutrient recovery on-farm experimental pilots in the most relevant European countries in terms of livestock production (Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands), whereas the nutrient management will be addressed through 3 different strategies adapted to mixed and specialised farming systems: (Strategy #1) On-farm production and use of Bio-Based Fertilisers (BBF), (Strategy #2) On-farm BBF production and Centralised Tailor-Made Fertilisers (TMF) production and (Strategy #3) On-farm TMF production and use.

A total of 31 marketable end-products (11 BBF & 20 TMF) will be obtained. The agronomic & environmental performance and their potential to replace conventional fertilisers will be assessed.

Ultimately, FERTIMANURE seeks to provide an innovative circular economy model to favour rural development in agricultural sector by creating real synergies and links within farmers and other industrial activities.

Check the project website

Discover the deliverables

PROJECT COORDINATOR

BETA Technological Center (UVIC-UCC), Spain

Project Partners

Ghent University, Belgium
Wageningen Environmental Research, Netherlands
University of Milano, Italy
LEITAT Technological Center, Spain
GreenWin, Belgium
European Landowners Association, Belgium
IPS-Konzulting, Croatia
Fraunhofer UMSICHT, Germany
Dorset Group, Netherlands
Arjan Prinsen Farm, Netherlands
French Chamber of Agriculture, France
Cooperativa Plana de Vic, Spain
ALGAENERGY, Spain
FERTINAGRO Biotech, Spain
RITTMO Agroenvironment, France
Agrifutur, Italy
Polish Association of Cattle Breeders and Producers, Poland
Catalan Department of Agriculture, Spain
Fertilizers Europe, Belgium
INTA, Argentina

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