How they use air from the pig houses to dry slurry
UK - In Belgium, pig farms without much land have to process their slurry, or pay a hefty yearly penalty that runs into thousands of pounds.
9 August 2004
2 minute read
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One way of treating the slurry is to pre-dry it with warm air from the piggeries. Using this method it is possible to reduce a thousand tonnes of slurry to just 15 tonnes, at a cost of around 38.30 a tonne of slurry.
Thierry and Christel Janssens, from Aalter, employ this method on their 65-acre, 350-sow unit. Slurry is pumped into one of three pre-drying units where dry matter is increased to around 15 percent. The thicker slurry is then pumped to a central tank where it is mixed with dried manure and goes onto a double-belt dryer.
At the end of its journey along the belt, dry matter has increased to about 70 percent and the finished article can be packed in large plastic bags. No additional air scrubbing is required because the exhaust air contains less than 5kg NH/m3, which is below the limit in Belgium for slurry drying facilities.
Source: National Pig Association - 9th August 2004
