Israeli tech turns animal waste into odorless, powdered fertilizer
A pilot project for the solution is currently being implemented at a kibbutz dairy farm in Israel.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFfarm animals(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
An Israeli company developed a low-cost way to convert animal waste into organic potassium-rich fertilizer, free of pathogens and odor.Tel Aviv-based Paulee CleanTec's recently patented technology allows for the ecofriendly management of human and animal waste.A pilot project for the solution is currently being implemented at a kibbutz dairy farm in Israel.“We can convert half a ton of fresh animal manure into odorless organic fertilizer in one hour,” said Paulee CleanTec CEO Ilan Levy. “If you have 300 dairy cows, they generate a ton of liquid waste every hour.""This is equivalent to wastewater from a town populated with 40,000 people,” Levy explained.In the United States, farms annually generate around 100 times more manure than human sewage processed at municipal wastewater plants, a company statement added.Across the globe, hundreds of millions of tons of improperly treated animal waste is discharged into waterways or absorbed in ground soil, contaminating crops and drinking water with salmonella, E. coli and fecal coliform.“When huge amounts of waste are produced in one concentrated area, there is no safe and cost-effective way to use it efficiently or get rid of it," Levy said. "The problem will never end as long as agriculture, meat, egg and milk production continue to rely on animal confinement.”Through Paulee CleanTec's process, the fertilizer is converted into powdered form and can be stored safely for later use, or can be sold and traded.Advertisement“In the near future, we can eliminate the current practice of on-farm storage of fresh animal manure that is required on livestock farms,” Levy said.“Animals drop manure all year, but it can only be applied on fields during certain seasons," Levy explained. "So every farm – whether raising pigs, cows or chickens – must store manure. In certain European countries, up to nine months of onsite manure storage capacity must be installed."The solution could be geared not only towards farms, but also high-rise apartments, airplanes, cruise ships and more, to convert all that smelly waste built up and held in tanks over long flights, through long pipes and multi-day voyages.“When we mix our strong oxidizer with the feces, it generates energy and heat," Prof. Oded Shoseyov of the Hebrew University explained. "That immediately neutralizes the smell – and in addition, sterilizes the feces because of the high temperature.”
