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Fertiliser from air by plasma treatment

Project description

A greener and cheaper alternative to chemical fertiliser

It is now possible for farmers to produce environmentally friendly fertiliser on the farm using manure, air and electricity. The solution improves food production and reduces impact on air, ecosystems and climate. Treating liquid manure increases the content of nitrogen and reduces the nutrient loss, leading to higher yields and less emissions from food production. A small-scale unit is placed locally on the farm and enables fertiliser production to be re-distributed to the end-user, the farmer, cutting long and expensive value chains and reducing the need for chemical fertiliser. The EU-funded Sustainable Manure project will commercialise this innovative technology, making it profitable for farmers. Overall, global food production will be improved, productivity increased and emissions reduced.

Objective

This project's main objective is the commercialisation of a breakthrough technology for upgrading livestock manure to an improved
fertiliser. The overall aim of the project is to fundamentally improve global food production, by increasing productivity and
reducing emissions. The technology enables farmers to produce environmentally friendly fertiliser on the farm using slurry or biogas digestate, air and electricity. The technology is a manure processing unit that consists of a plasma reactor, an absorption
system and a plasma generator with power supply. The consortium consists of three organisations, ScanArc Plasma Technologies AS,
University of Antwerp and N2 Applied.
The plasma technology for treating livestock manure, is an innovative technology with the following benefits:
• providing a cost-effective alternative to chemical fertiliser, and thus improving farm economics
• ensuring compliance with stricter environmental regulations, which in turn mitigates risk for farmers and ensures business
continuity
• reducing emissions in the farm-cycle and thus contributing to reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution
• removing odour, giving the farmer flexibility in spreading, optimising the fertilising effect of manure, which reduces nutrient loss and pollution.
This FTI proposal consists of the following measurable objectives:
1. Optimisation of the plasma reactor, with a focus on improving the energy efficiency
2. Optimisation of the absorption system, with a focus on increasing the processing capacity
3. Develop a commercial unit design for serial production with stable continuous operations and low maintenance
4. Piloting and testing to verify the performance of the organic fertiliser
5. Communication and dissemination
University of Antwerp is developing the plasma technology to make nitrogen fixation from air a valid alternative to fossil fertiliser
production, Scanarc develops the plasma units and N2 develops the total concept for the farmer.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

IA - Innovation action

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-FTI-2018-2020

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Coordinator

N2 APPLIED AS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 290 500,00
Address
DRONNING EUFEMIAS GATE 20
0191 Oslo
Norway

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 415 000,00

Participants (2)

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