Slurry, straight up

Danish manure processor turns pig waste into compost fertilizer, power and, yes, drinking water

BY NORMAN DUNN

A new biogas production system for hog farms reduces slurry to valuable fertilizer concentrate and clear, drinkable water - and at the same time earns income from electricity sales.

The Biorek system, launched commercially at this year's Agromek trade show in Denmark, has a prototype already in full production on Inge and Jens Egdal's 1,100-sow, farrow-to-finish unit in Denmark where 40 m3 of six-per cent dry matter slurry is produced every day.

>From this daily input, the system produces 33 m3 of clean water, 1 m3 of ammonia concentrate, 5 m3 of P and K concentrate, 1 m3 of fibre compost and around 800 m3 of gas.

On the Egdal family farm the gas powers generator motors that produce a daily 1,520 kWh of power selling to the local power network at the equivalent of just under 6.7 cents per kWh.

And that's not all: The government rewards this form of biomass electricity generation by adding another 5.6 cents per kWh to the farmer's income, plus 2.2 cents for the system's role in cutting CO2 emissions.

"The overall advantages to the farmer can be much more than just the price he or she gets for electricity," says Finn Rasmussen, manager with the system's production company, Bioscan A/S. "Because slurry components are relatively quickly reduced to compost, mineral-fertilizer concentrate and clear water, we reckon a hog unit requires only 25 per cent of conventional slurry capacity in winter."

Under Danish law, with its strict hog per slurry-spreadable acre limits, the technology for some producers may represent the difference between expansion or going out of business, Rasmussen says.

The Biorek biogas plant is the first of its kind to produce gas efficiently on hog slurry alone. Normally, this type of slurry has to be "boosted" by slaughterhouse offal or bakery rejects in order to produce enough feed for methane-producing bacteria.

The secret to the Biorek success is the initial filtering out of fibres, leaving a purer product to run through the gas reactor. From there, the feed liquid goes through ultra filtration, and then an ammonia stripper that produces nitrogen fertilizer. The last stage is reverse osmosis filtration, a membrane filtering system so thorough that only clear water and salts are left - even the bacteria and P and K concentrate are removed.

Finn Rasmussen says there's another possible profit for the farmer: "We're arranging for organic fertilizer companies to start collecting and paying for the fertilizer concentrate produced by our biogas units."

Bioscan is building 10 more biogas units on Danish hog farms this year. All will be owned by the Bioscan company and simply rented out to the farmers.

How much will farmers be left with after rent is paid? "We have to say that the energy income alone will not cover the annual rent. But when everything, including reduced slurry storage requirements, is taken into account, the farmer could be left with a profit equivalent to 1.1 to 2.2 cents per m3 of slurry."
Contact: Bioscan A/S, Tagtaekkervej 5, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark. Tel. 45 66 15 70 71; fax 15 77 71

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That picky Pacific Rim

Toronto-based Quality Meat Packers uses advanced packaging technology to get fresh chilled pork on the shelves of Japanese supermarkets

By ROBERT IRWIN

As its name suggests, Toronto-based Quality Meat Packers has its own ideas about quality.

In 1994, in conjunction with a Canadian Meat Council research and development program, the company pioneered New Zealand technology that boosted the shelf life of fresh pork to an unprecedented 65 days. A new export initiative was launched to the Pacific Rim, where sales have since soared in sharp contrast to lacklustre Canadian frozen pork sales to the same market.

Pork meeting the downtown Toronto plant's extremely high hygienic standards is chilled 16 hours at 2 to 3 C before cutting and further chilling. Cuts are wrapped and placed in a pouch which is purged of air and filled with carbon dioxide. Each pouch is thermostatically chilled, dated and shipped in a container by rail to Vancouver, from where it departs on an 18- to 25-day sea voyage to Japan.

Quality's general manager Donald Collis says in marketing terms it's "a point of difference" that allows the modestly sized packer with sales of $275 million to corner niche markets in the shadow of much larger processors in an increasingly aggressive global marketplace. "Quality's heritage is being different from the large-volume players," Collis asserts.

The company is also in the process of developing a full HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) program for the farm, Collis says: "You're talking best practices on farms and controlling your inputs." By the end of 1998, producers supplying Quality under contract will have to ensure that inputs are as claimed and that any deviation from standard operating procedures is explained and documented.

Quality's current contracts with producers stipulate HACCP will be implemented when the company's protocol is developed.

Collis, and Dan Cohoe, Quality's procurement officer and the person who facilitates producer quality assurance programs, say the company is careful not to burden producers with unnecessary extra costs. Still, there's no question HACCP programs add to workload.

Producers shouldn't expect a penny more for their quality control efforts, either.

"No one is going to be very interested in doing anything specific unless they see value in it," concedes Cohoe. He predicts producers will buy in to the national voluntary program because it's an "opportunity to feel good," about their industry and to ensure Canada's export success.

Collis says Quality's Toronto facility, "the oldest in the country," was the first pork processing plant to get HACCP designation from United States Department of Agriculture and Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Other plants, including Maple Leaf, are expected to follow suit in the next few weeks because it is a recently imposed condition for plants with more than 500 employees exporting to the U.S.

Quality buys almost 50 per cent of its requirements under contracts with producers and bids for the remainder through Ontario Pork's auction pool.

Although the background of pool pigs can't be verified like contract pigs at present, the company plans to have an identification system in place within 18 months which will trace the origin of pool pigs.

Ontario Pork vice-chairman Clare Schlegel, who for the past 18 months has shipped his own hogs to Quality, shares the company's vision: "I can tell you that when we were in Denmark the Danes were very aware of some of the technology that Quality Meats was using to export to Japan."

Collis sees a bright export future for his company, which began as a butcher shop in 1931 and continues to be run by the Schwartz family that founded it. He projects Quality's chilled pork sales this year will rise 41 per cent over last year, while frozen sales to Japan will increase 53 per cent.

Last year, total exports were over 25 per cent of company sales. More than half was chilled pork sold to Japan. Lack of a suitable land base continues to diminish Japan's domestic production five to eight per cent per year, Collis says.

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