Currently, manure use as a fertiliser can be limited by high transportation costs, and perceived environmental concerns. There is potential to optimise struvite extraction from piggery effluent and so use it as a more concentrated efficient source of phosphorus fertliser than sludge. This project explored the feasibility of struvite separation technology.
Value for producers:
- Potential to generate struvite fertiliser as a piggery byproduct
Recommendations:
- Recovery of struvite from piggery effluent is technically feasible
- The proportion of phosphorus in piggery effluent available for struvite recovery is quite low (~15%), but this could be increased.
- Further work is needed to do the economic analysis to evaluate the viability of struvite separation technology; overseas reports are highly variable.
