The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in partnership with the Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative has begun an evaluation of the economics and operating effectiveness of air flotation and belt filter press manure separation technology.

MLMMI executive director John Carney explains this is one of a number of options available for separating the phosphorus-rich solids in swine manure from the nitrogen-rich liquids.

John Carney - Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative:

MLMMI has looked at a number of different technologies, everything from centrifuges to belt presses, inclined screens and this is another type of technology in that series of evaluations that we're using.

This particular system comes from the Netherlands where they face the pressure of more livestock than spreadable acres.

In that context, they've really focused on ways to separate manure.

This technology has recently been implemented on a farm in Manitoba and the purpose of this project is to understand the way it works and how much it costs to operate.

It is a multi-step process where there's an air filtration tank, there's a belt press that the manure goes through and we're hoping that the results conclude that there's a high level of phosphorus capture through the process.

Mr Carney says the evaluation is already underway and results are expected in June.

He notes that, because the system is already in operation, this project will go quite a bit more quickly than other evaluation projects because researchers will not need to go through the challenge of sourcing and commissioning the equipment.