Upcycled manure may ignite new sustainable fertilizing trend

Date:
August 30, 2021
Source:
Cornell University
Summary:
Judiciously decomposing organic matter from 700 degrees Fahrenheit
to 1,200 degrees F, without oxygen -- a process known as pyrolysis
-- and retaining nutrients from dairy lagoons can transform manure
into a manageable, ecologically friendly biochar fertilizer,
according to new research.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Cow manure -- a longtime agricultural waste headache for dairy farmers --
soon may ignite a new sustainable fertilizing trend.


========================================================================== Judiciously decomposing organic matter from 700 degrees Fahrenheit to
1,200 degrees F, without oxygen -- a process known as pyrolysis, very
different from incineration -- and retaining nutrients from dairy lagoons
can transform manure into a manageable, ecologically friendly biochar fertilizer, according to new research published in Scientific Reports.

That would allow dairy producers to stop storing excreta in on-farm
lagoons or spreading it only in nearby fields.

"Manure is usually a liquid problem and it has increasingly been an
issue of disposal," said Johannes Lehmann, professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. "Using pyrolysis of
solid manure and retention of nutrients from the liquid onto the biochar,
we can create a fertilizer from waste. That's a marketable commodity." Commercial fertilizer made of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is
created using carbon inputs like natural gas, sulfur, coal and rock
deposits. If agriculture can recycle nitrogen, Lehmann said, farming
can reduce the carbon input that comes from fossil fuel.

"Once we make a dry fertilizer out of what was once a liquid problem,
it is no longer an issue of disposal," said Lehmann, a Cornell Atkinson
Center for Sustainability faculty fellow. "It's safe because the solids
are pyrolyzed.

There are no pathogens, no hormones or antibiotics residues or any other material that could contaminate soil or water." Nitrogen management is
a major challenge throughout the farming world. In New York state, for
example, dairy manure waste production averages 12.8 million metric tons annually, which can easily fertilize the state's 43,000 acres of corn. If
a farmer grows 200 acres of corn, that producer spends about $28,000
annually for commercial fertilizer, while a dairy farmer with 550 cows
spends about $25,000 annually on manure storage, according to the paper.

"Coupling the local excess of manure nutrients with regional fertilizer
needs could help farmers save money and alleviate environmental issues,"
said doctoral student Leilah Krounbi, the paper's lead author.

"You're reducing the volume of the solid waste product that has
90% water and reducing it to zero water," Lehmann said. "If
we retain nutrients from the liquid as we have shown in this
study, you're going from these huge lagoons that are noticeably
emitting odor and climate gases such as methane and reducing that
footprint by an order of magnitude. That's a huge saving all around." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cornell_University. Original written
by Blaine Friedlander. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Leilah Krounbi, Akio Enders, John Gaunt, Margaret Ball, Johannes
Lehmann.

Plant uptake of nitrogen adsorbed to biochars made from dairy
manure.

Scientific Reports, 2021; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-94337-8 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210830123223.htm

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