COAG: composting in Catalonia
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.