COAG: composting in Catalonia
Organisation or Company
Type of organisation or company
Country
Spain
Language for original content
Key Area
Project elaborated in partnership
No
Scope
Submitted by
Jaume Bernis Castells
COAG
Description
Alcarràs is a town located 8 km from Lleida, Catalonia (Spain), with a population of 10 000. Its main economic activity is agriculture, and it ranks near the top within the EU in terms of volume of livestock:
- Swine: 210 000
- Cattle: 59 000
- Sheep: 9 000
- Poultry: 800 000
As well as animals, Alcarràs produces extravagant amounts of fruit, such as peaches and nectarines. Consequently, it has access to wood from pruning and felling trees; this is used for heating and structuring compost.
Cows and pigs do tend to produce lots of manure, while fruit trees provide wood, which is used as a structuring agent in the fermentation process in the composting plant.
- Slurry: 220 000 m³ (providing 20 000 Tg of dry matter)
- Manure: 175 000 Tg
- Woody material: 50 000 Tg
These three by-products result in a total of 245 000 Tg to be used in the circular bio-economy.
Main activity field
Main results
Results:
- efficient management of livestock manure;
- replacement of mineral fertilisers with organic ones: manure, the solid part of slurry, and wood from fruit trees are processed in the composting plant, producing a 100% organic fertiliser;
- wood chips resulting from management of local forests are used in the farm's HERZ 150-Kw boiler.