Weather update Lely Sphere
Don't emit nitrogen but harvest on a dairy farm
While the nitrogen crisis continues unabated, Lely wants to make a valuable raw material from nitrogen on the dairy farm. With the Lely Sphere, the tech company claims to reduce nitrogen emissions from a dairy farm by 70%. Boerenbusiness was allowed to view the invention at the dairy farm of the Van den Berg family in Bleskensgraaf.
"Walk into the dairy barn and say what you smell. Or rather: don't smell it", Clemens Duijnisveld, product manager at Lely, told his retinue of some trade journalists. In the dairy barn of the Van den Berg family there is no penetrating smell of urine or manure, but the smell of the silage predominates. "Different than usual, isn't it. The air no longer hangs in your clothes. Do the test at home later." He is right, as it turns out later. Dairy farmer Ad van den Berg confirms when asked that it is more pleasant to work in the dairy barn without the manure smell.
It tells in a nutshell the effect of the Lely Sphere, which Lely presented on Tuesday as one of the Yellow Revolutions. The concern from Maassluis officially calls it a circular manure valorisation system. The development of the system started 5 years ago, says Martijn Boelens, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Lely. The main aim is to close the cycle on a dairy farm as well as possible, by being able to reuse the minerals released in the dairy barn.
Dairy farmer must be patient
Lely indicates that the Sphere can reduce at least 70% of the nitrogen emissions on a dairy farm. This can help many dairy farms in obtaining or retaining environmental permits, realizes Rik Janssen, specialist farm management support at Lely. These dairy farmers still have to be patient.
Lely expects to receive recognition from the Ammonia and Livestock Farming Regulation (RAV) in the third or fourth quarter of 2021 at the earliest, so in about a year's time. The company will then initially focus on the Dutch market. After the market launch, Lely expects to sell the Sphere to 25 to 50 companies in the coming year.
Separating urine and manure on the floor
But how does the system actually work? The Sphere can be installed on any dairy farm with a slatted floor, young or old. Lely wants to separate the urine and solid manure directly on the floor. This prevents the urea in the urine from entering the cellar with the solid manure and forming ammonia there. This process takes effect within 2 hours, says Clemens Duijnisveld.
In the stable he points to the aluminum strips that have been hammered into the slots of the grids. These so-called separation strips have holes with a diameter of 8 mm, into which the urine can flow. "These strips are made to measure depending on the type of slatted floor", says Duijnisveld. If the system is successful, stable builders can immediately start making floors with only holes for convenience.
Bind nitrogen with acids
The solid manure is literally swept up with the Discovery Collector manure robot. Because Van den Berg's dairy farm has several pits, this solid manure can be deposited in a separate manure cellar. Not all urine is separated from the manure, explains Duijnisveld. About two thirds run through the holes in the separation strips into the cellar and one third is picked up by the collector with the solid manure. The barn cleaning robot, which has a capacity of 300 litres, should clean the slats every 2 hours.
The nitrogen (or ammonia) released in the manure pit is sucked up by the so-called N-capture. This system resembles an air scrubber, but Lely prefers not to put that name on the system. "N-capture is completely different," says Duijnisveld. "An air scrubber cleans the air in a closed barn. We suck up the gases from the manure cellar under the slatted floor. The dairy barn always remains open." The nitrogen gases are passed through filters in the N-capture, where water mixed with acids binds the nitrogen.
3 minerals separating
This creates a liquid fertilizer, which Lely has renamed circular manure, which is stored at Van den Berg in a tank with a capacity of 50 cubic meters. The Van den Berg dairy farm has a double-walled tank secured in a cage to store the acids. If the tank is empty, the supplier will automatically receive a signal to refill it. Sulfuric acid and nitric acid are used for the N-capture. "The dairy farmer can vary this if he wants to apply more sulfur or more nitrogen to his grass or maize," says Duijnisveld. Each cow needs approximately 100 to 130 liters of acid.
Through these steps, the Sphere system is able to separate 3 minerals: the nitrogen in the form of the liquid fertilizer, potassium from the urine and organic matter and phosphate from the solid manure. The practical tests that Lely has carried out so far have shown that the system enables a 'harvest' of 10 to 20 kilos of nitrogen per year. By using the 3 minerals in a targeted manner, the dairy farm - according to Lely - creates a cycle.
Save on fertilizer
The dairy farmer can therefore save on the use of fertilizer. For the time being, fertilizer will remain necessary, Mathé van den Bosch expects. The dairy farmer from Oudenbosch is also testing the Sphere on his farm. "My estimate is that I will save a third on fertilizer purchases. That can be further optimized in the coming years. I will also spend 1.000 cubic meters less on fertilizer sales. And that at €12 per cubic meter, just do the math."
The Lely Sphere comes with a price tag. The company gives an indication of €130.000 to €170.000, assuming a dairy farm with 120 dairy cows. This includes 2 N-captures, the flushing water tank, the separation strips and the barn cleaning robots. Much depends of course on the situation at the company. Lely has calculated that the system provides the company with 120 cows, 40 hectares of land and an annual manure surplus – based on the variable costs – with a favorable balance of approximately €5.000.
First investment incentive
The costs for, among other things, water, energy, insurance and the acids amount to €9.500. The benefits such as improved animal welfare due to the better stable climate (which is not yet evident in the results) and the production and efficient application of circular liquid manure yield €14.500. A high financial return is therefore not the first investment incentive to purchase the Sphere.
That is, as Lely itself points out, the higher goal of more sustainable business operations by creating a mineral cycle. And as a result, as a dairy farm, depending on your situation and location, you must comply with the environmental conditions and production requirements. "For the future of Dutch dairy farming", Lely says at the beginning of an introductory video.
Eric the Thrush
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