Manufacturing and Utilization of Pelletized Livestock Manure Compost

Abstract

As of March 2011, there were about 3.3 million cattle, 7 million pigs, and 140 million poultry in Republic of Korea, producing about 46.5 million tons of animal manure. About 87% of the total produced waste is recycled to land as compost and liquid organic fertilizer. Compost made from livestock manure is an effective material for improving the physical and chemical condition of soil. However, there are few factors that limit the application of ordinary composted livestock manure. The major problem is that composted livestock manure usually has high moisture content, which deters to produce pelletized compost. This study was carried out to develop a new type of pelletizing system for high quality pelletized compost. Pilot scale pelletizing instrument system was developed, which can directly manufacture wet compost into pelletized compost without pre-drying of raw material. By using this pelletizing process, weight and volume of compost, and odor were reduced by 30%, respectively. Furthermore, nutrients of compost were not affected by pelletizing process. The High Heating Value (HHV) of pelletized compost with bedding material was 4,135 kcal/kg. As a result, pelletized compost could be used as good quality organic compost and a fuel for burner.