<html><head><title>Re: [Digestion] Bio Slurry</title>
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<span style=" font-family:'Verdana'; font-size: 9pt;">Hello Kyle and listers,<br>
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This seems to be an issue in many biogas programmes. The fertilizer value of the slurry is good, but it should be used carefully. Last summer, I visited the biogas programme in Nepal (in which I was involved at the start). We talked to two farmers, next door to each other. One said that he used the slurry, but had problems with it. He added it to cauliflowers he was growing and they did not grow well. His next door neighbour said he used biogas slurry on cauliflowers and they produced twice as much as previously. The first had used slurry direct from the output pit, the second had added the slurry to dry biomass material and composted it before putting it on the cauliflowers. <br>
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Slurry from the outlet pit contains readily available nitrogen and hydrogen sulphide. The nitrogen can cause plants to grow too fast, so they become weak. The hydrogen sulphide will poison plants. If the slurry is allowed to "mature", i.e. left to dry out, the hydrogen sulphide evaporates, but the nitrogen is also lost. The best way to use the slurry is to add it to dry biomass, such as straw, dried leaves, or a pile of weeds pulled out from the crop fields. The nitrogen is absorbed in the dry biomass, while the hydrogen sulphide converts to sulphur. The microbes in the slurry causes the pile to compost twice as fast as usual. After about a month, it can be used on the fields or sold. <br>
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SKG Sangha in South India (and VK NARDEP - see </span><a style=" font-family:'Verdana'; font-size: 9pt;" href="www.ashden.org">www.ashden.org</a><span style=" font-family:'Verdana'; font-size: 9pt;"> winners) put the compost in vermi-compost units, where worms convert it to even more effective fertilizer. Many small farmers use half of the vermi-compost on their own crops and sell half. Women, who usually run the biogas and vermi-compost plants, can earn as much as their husbands get from selling surplus crops in the local market. They claim that they get 1/3 more crop production and also get 1/3 more money from selling the crop in the market, as the quality is so much better. You are welcome to come to South India to learn their approach. I am trying to document their approach, so we can share it with others. I have asked a volunteer to spend time with them, so he can write a report of their development approach. <br>
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<span style=" font-size: 8pt; color: #31652c;"><i>-- <br>
Best regards,<br>
David<br>
</i></span></span><a style=" font-family:'verdana';" href="mailto:davidf@kingdombio.com">mailto:davidf@kingdombio.com</a><br>
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<span style=" font-family:'verdana'; color: #31652c;"><i>Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 6:44:22 AM, you wrote:<br>
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<td width=865><span style=" font-family:'verdana'; font-size: 9pt;">Hi List,<br>
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At our company we have recently realized that the value of the bioslurry (we call it biofertilizer) may be greater than the value of the biogas itself. I wanted to pick your brains on how it can be monetized. This would be good for the farmer and for the biogas company. If the farmer can see a new income source from biogas and not just a money saver, that could be huge.<br>
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There is the current way of using bioslurry.<br>
The farmer puts it on their own crops. This is usually done in a non-systematic, non-optimized way such that the farmer can't get the full value of it. For our farmers, they typically have more bioslurry than they can use.<br>
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We could sell the bioslurry to large farms.<br>
On the surface, this seemed the be the most attractive way to monetize bioslurry because the margins between what a small farmer is willing to sell their bioslurry for and what the large farmers pay for fertilizer is something like 500%. However, most (if not all) export farms want non-animal based fertilizer as they export to the European market and presumably the European customers do not accept crops (even flowers) that have been grown on manure. There are also large farms in Kenya that grow for the local market, so those might be the best target for now.<br>
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We could sell the bioslurry to urban households for landscaping.<br>
Rich households in Nairobi have beautiful gardens they need to take care of. The market is limited, but probably big enough for us.<br>
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Another Idea is to sell a foliage spray.<br>
I don't know much about this, but someone suggested that if we separated the solids from the liquid of the bioslurry this could be a good product.<br>
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We could add value to the bioslurry by growing a crop on it and selling that.<br>
Instead of selling the bioslurry we could sell a crop that grows on the bioslurry. In this case we either collect the slurry for our own farm or we can teach our farmers how to grow a cash crop (such as tomatoes, mushrooms, berries) and then do a weekly pick up from them. This is logistically and training wise the most difficult and also the most profitable. I would shy away from this monetization method for now.<br>
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I know that SKGSangha has taught their farmers how to do vermicomposting which would be interesting for us. In our case we are a Company not an NGO so we need to get part of the revenue stream. Also there is no small scale market for organic fertilizer in Kenya. Only large farms buy organic fertilizer/compost/soil amendment in Kenya. So we could buy the vermicompost off of our farmers and sell it to large farms.<br>
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We are talking about 5,000 tons of bioslurry a month that we need to find a home for. Let me know what you all think we should do.<br>
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I look forward to hearing your thoughts.<br>
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<span style=" font-size: 14pt;">Kyle<br>
Founder and Director of Technology<br>
Schutter Energy Ltd.<br>
+254 703113383<br>
</span></span><a style=" font-family:'verdana'; font-size: 14pt;" href="http://www.takamotobiogas.com">www.takamotobiogas.com</a><br>
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<span style=" font-family:'Verdana'; font-size: 9pt;"> ********************************************************************<br>
Dr David Fulford CEnv MEI, 15, Brandon Ave, Woodley, Reading RG5 4PU<br>
</span><a style=" font-family:'verdana'; font-size: 9pt;" href="mailto:d.j.fulford@btinternet.com">d.j.fulford@btinternet.com</a><span style=" font-family:'Verdana'; font-size: 9pt;">, Tel: +44(0)118 326 9779 Mob: +44(0)7746 806401<br>
Kingdom Bioenergy Ltd, </span><a style=" font-family:'verdana'; font-size: 9pt;" href="http://www.kingdombio.com">www.kingdombio.com</a><span style=" font-family:'Verdana'; font-size: 9pt;">, </span><a style=" font-family:'verdana'; font-size: 9pt;" href="mailto:davidf@kindombio.com">davidf@kindombio.com</a><br>
<span style=" font-family:'Verdana'; font-size: 9pt;"> Skype Identity: djfulford</body></html>