Application for TSB Driving Innovation Funding for a Feasibility Study investigating the potential of producing a commercial fertiliser pellet, based on anaerobic digestate and chicken litter

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Many areas of NI are livestock intensive. All of NI is an NVZ. Nitrogen rich chicken litter and slurry can only be spread to land within strict consent limits. The factor limiting growth in many farms is the availability of land on which to spread slurry. Despite this ‘nitrogen problem’ in livestock intensive areas, many arable areas import large tonnages of fertiliser, at increasing costs. It is presently not economic to transport slurry between livestock and arable areas due to its high water content. Concentrating nutrients from chicken litter, slurries and anaerobic digestate into a solid pellet, could prove an economically viable way to move nutrients between livestock intensive areas (where nitrogen is a problem) and arable areas (where it is a resource). This would benefit arable farmers by reducing fertiliser costs, and benefit livestock farmers by enabling them to expand operations. There would be positive impacts on local rural economies by increasing agricultural output.