Plant Nutrients and Bioenergy via a New Quick Wash Procedure for Livestock Manures

While livestock manures offer great potential to provide nutrients for cotton, most manures are unbalanced in nitrogen and phosphorus.  Recovery of significant P from the manure provides options for better direct application of the manure as well as greater transport of the concentrated phosphorus.  A treatment process called “quick wash” was developed for extraction and recovery of P from poultry litter and animal manure solids. The quick wash process consists of three consecutive steps: 1) P extraction, 2) P recovery, and 3) P recovery enhancement.  The remaining manure can potentially be used to produce energy before application to crops.  Both traditional anaerobic digestion and the new wet gasification offer opportunities for energy production from the washed manures.