Teresa Jordà: "The BETA Technological Center's Fertimanure project takes the livestock farming sector towards the circular economy, which involves economic and social issues as well as environmental sustainability"

Livestock farming is a very important economic activity in the European Union (EU) and the one that makes the most use of land, either directly or indirectly. European livestock farms produce 1,400 tonnes of manure, and only a very small fraction of this amount is processed, while the rest is applied to agricultural soil as fertiliser, leading to a heavy environmental impact. The European Fertimanure project (Fertilizers from animal manure) is being undertaken to help overcome this situation. It aims to develop, assess and validate innovative strategies for management of nutrients and the recovery of mineral nutrients from livestock manure in order to produce reliable and safe fertilisers. The Fertimanure project, which is coordinated by the BETA Technology Center at the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), has a budget of 8.4 million Euros. It is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme, and involves twenty partners from the EU, Argentina and Chile. 

Fertimanure was launched on 1 January 2020, and is scheduled to end on 31 December 2023. Over these four years, one of the most important phases is the creation of five pilot plants located in different European countries: France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The Spanish pilot plant, which has been operating over the last few months, is located on the farm of Cal Ros in Muntanyola (Osona), which is a member of the Plana de Vic Cooperative. It is the first biorefinery of its size to become operational on a farm in Spain. This plant was officially inaugurated this morning, at a ceremony attended by the minister of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Government of Catalonia, Teresa Jordà, whose ministry is also a partner in the project; the rector of UVic-UCC, Josep Eladi Baños; the president of the Plana de Vic Cooperative, Andreu Fabré; the director of the BETA Technological Center, Sergio Ponsá, and the centre's deputy director and coordinator of the Fertimanure project, Laia Llenas.

At the opening ceremony, Teresa Jordà thanked all the people and organisations that have made this pilot plant possible, saying that "it shows that when people work together, it leads to very good results." Jordà also emphasised that the research done by the BETA Technological Center and by the Fertimanure project in particular is closely linked to her ministry's interest in the bioeconomy and the circular economy. "This project takes the livestock farming sector towards the circular economy, which involves economic and social issues as well as environmental sustainability," she said.

The minister of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda emphasised the need to find solutions to the problem of manure in areas with a high intensity of livestock in Catalonia. However, the minister stressed that "the food and agriculture sector aims to do things even better, and we have to remove the stigma from it." The present must be transformed in order to meet the challenges of the future to achieve this. The Minister said that "we need to reconnect with the territory, and we are doing it with a benchmark in the region, which is UVic-UCC." Jordà concluded her speech by saying that "this project is now a pilot plant, but we must roll it out throughout the territory, as the food and agriculture sector has a great deal of potential."

The rector of UVic-UCC, Josep Eladi Baños, highlighted the importance of a European project like this one being led by Vic and Catalonia, and discussed the practical and applied aspect of Fertimanure, as "the results of the research carried out in the laboratory cannot always be applied to solve specific problems."

Meanwhile, Laia Llenas, the deputy director of the BETA Technological Center and the coordinator of the Fertimanure project, mentioned the main features of the project, "the most important in livestock manure in Catalonia," in which twenty institutions are participating. Llenas referred to the problem that manure has been creating for many years, especially in areas like the Osona region. "The vast amount of excess nutrients has been one of the most important problems in our region, and with the Fertimanure project we want to stop seeing it as a problem, and to think of it as a resource with considerable added value, because manure can be a safe source for producing biofertilisers," explained Llenas. The deputy director of the BETA Technological Center concluded her speech by expressing the hope that this is the first of many projects on the transition to the circular economy.

Finally, the president of the Plana de Vic Cooperative, Andreu Fabré, discussed the social backdrop behind the Fertimanure project. He agreed with Llenas by highlighting the need to add value to a product that is sometimes still seen as a problem, and to understand that "manure can be an opportunity". According to Fabré, projects like this one should be used to put an end to criticism of livestock farming, as "people who have done their job properly have not created any problems." The president of the Plana de Vic Cooperative expressed his hopes that the project becomes viable in the future, "and justifies the sustainability that has always been here." 

The inauguration of the plant was attended by Joan Turró, General Manager of the Balmes University Foundation; Marc Mussons, general manager of UVic-UCC; and Meritxell Borràs, UVic-UCC Corporate Policy Coordinator, among other representatives of the university. Others attending included Joan Carles Rodríguez, president of Osona Regional Council; Carles Morera, the mayor of Muntanyola; Josep-Ramon Soldevila, councillor of Vic City Council, and specialists from the BETA Technological Center and the Plana de Vic Cooperative. 

The first biorefinery of its size in Spain

The pilot plants in the Fertimanure project are a life-size innovative solution on a real scale for recovering Europe's main sources of livestock manure at its source: pork slurry, cow dung and poultry litter. The Cal Ros pilot plant, managed by the Plana de Vic Cooperative, the BETA Technological Center, the LEITAT Technology Centre and Algaenergy S.A., has been designed to process 3 m3/day of pig manure produced on the farm. However, it also carries out tests to recover poultry litter. 

Over the next two years, the experiments carried out on the farm at Cal Ros will show whether the process being considered is technologically and economically viable, and determine the sustainability of the biofertiliser products obtained in a biorefinery like this one. Its agronomic quality and the safety of its use will also be ensured by carrying out agronomic tests both under controlled conditions and in tests in the field.

The pilot plant in the Osona region contains a solid-liquid separation unit and several units based on different technologies placed in a cascade, with two separate treatment units. The processes used for the solid fraction are bio-drying followed by a heating process, while membrane contactors, reverse osmosis, cryoconcentration and microalgae reactors have been chosen for the liquid fraction. The aim of the entire treatment process is to reduce the volume of the solid and liquid fractions produced in order to obtain five high value-added products, as well as water that can be reused and energy, completing a zero waste approach.

The products that are expected to be obtained from the Cal Ros biorefinery are: dry organic matter with content levels of the main nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) of over 1%, phosphoric acid from the ash generated in the energy recovery of the dry solid fraction of livestock manure, liquid concentrate rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and rich in organic matter, biostimulants rich in amino acids, and ammonium sulphate containing up to 8% nitrogen. This solution for the treatment of manure is a further step towards the circular bioeconomy, as it produces safe, marketable bio-based biofertilisers, and the costs associated with the current management of manure are significantly reduced, thereby helping to reset the regional nutrient balance.