System Pulls Drinkable Water, Nutrients Out Of Liquid Manure

System Pulls Drinkable Water Nutrients Out Of Liquid Manure FARM HOME Miscellaneous Canadian entrepreneur Ross Thurston and Bill Gates of Microsoft have a lot in common Gates is working at reclaiming water from human sewage through a machine called an Omniprocessor Thurston has several working systems that are already extracting water from liquid livestock manure The liquid manure processing system was developed by Thurston’s company Livestock Water Recycling LWR Thurston firmly believes the LWR system will have a huge impact on the livestock industry and the future of manure management Says Thurston “It’s a system that lets producers recycle recover and reuse 100 percent of the liquid manure they produce Freshwater usage on hog and dairy farms can be reduced by 40 percent and liquid manure volume can be reduced by up to 85 percent ” Thurston began working on the idea in 2003 when LWR discovered a way to extract water and other nutrients from liquid manure By 2007 they had a prototype and in 2008 installed their first system in a Manitoba hog facility LWR currently has working systems throughout Canada and in New York Wisconsin Michigan and Indiana Additional interest has been received from operations around the globe LWR uses mechanical and chemical treatments to separate solids from liquids as it flows through the processing system In each step product is separated filtered and purified Up to 85 percent of the liquid is reclaimed as clean resuable water At the same time ammonium and potassium are removed and concentrated into a clean liquid solution that’s ideal fertilizer for growing crops Phosphorus in solid form is also a byproduct The LWR system is custom-built for each livestock facility where it’s installed It’s fully assembled and delivered to the farm installed and activated by the company The facilities already using the system generate several million gallons of waste annually One of those operations is Shiloh Dairy in Brillion Wis which installed an LWR system last year Owner Gordon Speirs says the installation processes the 30 million gallons of liquid manure the dairy produces annually converting it into 18 million gallons of clean water 6 million gallons of liquid fertilizer and about 6 000 to 12 000 tons of solid fertilizer Speirs has about 4 200 animals including 2 100 milk cows Thurston says the LWR System has tremendous benefits for livestock operations Problems with holding tanks and lagoons are eliminated because manure is processed daily That means there’s less environmental risk and nutrients can be field-applied at optimum times A high amount of water is reclaimed for re-use either for cleaning irrigation or consumption Cost of the system depends on the size of the operation where it’s installed and is in line with the cost of putting in a new lagoon Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Livestock Water Recycling LWR 3637-44th Ave S E Calgary Alberta Canada T2B 3R5 ph 403-203-4972; www livestockwaterrecycling com

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