Objective
The increase of EU pig production and the intensification of its practice resulted of an increase of pig
waste production. In 2008, more than 930 million m3 of pig slurry was produced in the EU. Pigs are
raised indoor and the manure collected is mostly slurry. Pig farmers need to treat a great volume of
residue with high viscosity and variable physico-chemical composition. The leaks and air emissions
associated to pig slurries storage and handling lead to new socio-economic and environmental
challenges. In response to these manure handling problems, guidelines and regulations have been
introduced in many EU countries. In order to comply with these regulations, farmers are forced to
change farming practices by investing in manure storage and disposal facilities and manure
treatments which increase the total production costs. In order to increase their competitiveness, pig
farmers in Europe must reduce the waste volume and the costs associated with waste treatment and
transport. Besides, this sector faces technical limitations of the treatment equipment, many time
associated with fouling formation. Treatment technologies are used on larger farms (e.g. separation,
composting systems, evaporation, anaerobic treatments and aeration to reduce nitrogen surplus and
odours). None of the current technologies is close to an optimal solution and present important
technological and economical obstacles that avoid them to be adopted by the SMEs sized pig
farmers. There is a need of finding an integrated and efficient solution to reduce the volume of pig
slurry, minimize pollutants emission and optimizing energy consumption during the treatment process.
The aims of EfficientHeat is to develop an affordable technology for all types of farmers which
reduces the transportation cost, currently accountings for almost 60% of the total processing costs.
EfficientHeat will also permit an increase of the energy efficiency up to 20% and the abatement of
emissions (N-compounds) reducing foul odours. Additionally, EfficientHeat will also provide for
nutrient recovery for recycling and reuse.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-SME-2011
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
BSG-SME - Research for SMEsCoordinator
30564 LORQUI MURCIA
Spain