Buzz Hoerr hopes winning a Pennsylvania state environmental award will equate to more business for his odor-reduction technology.
“We are certainly hoping this award will help give us momentum,” Hoerr said.
Hoerr’s company, ElectroCell Technologies, based in Colchester, Vt., was one of 16 recipients of the 2012 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.
His company markets a manure treatment technology for hog farms that reduces odors and nutrients along with making it easier for plants to take up nutrients.
The company is well-known for its work on the James Snavely hog farm in Mount Joy, Pa. Snavely’s was the first farm that ElectroCell worked with to bring the manure treatment technology onto farms.
Hoerr said it has improved soil health on the farm along with reducing odors coming from manure applications.
He said the company has six farms under contract and is in talks with four others.
The technology, which originated in Israel and which ElectroCell has exclusive North American rights to market, treats manure using a portable system.
Manure is drawn out of a lagoon and into a machine, where it flows across a series of electrical plates. Electrical pulses weaken and puncture the cell walls in the manure, which essentially kills the odor along with some of the nutrients.
The manure is then returned to the pit, where most of the nutrients settle at the bottom — Hoerr claims 90 percent of the phosphorus and up to 50 percent of nitrogen settle at the bottom of the pit once it’s treated.
He said that after the manure is applied, plants are able to take up nutrients more readily, reducing runoff.
The 500,000 gallons of manure at Snavely’s farm are treated in the early spring and fall, right before land application and at other times of the year when needed.
The technology has earned the company some income through the selling of nutrient credits via the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority’s (PENNVEST) annual nutrient credit auction.
A spot auction on Nov. 2 of last year included 500 nitrogen and 462 phosphorus credits from ElectroCell. It wasn’t a lot of money though — only $3.10 per nitrogen credit and $4.73 for phosphorus.
Having the ability to aggregate nutrient credits on behalf of farmers was originally a selling point when the company first marketed the technology. On Snavely’s farm, the company aggregated credits generated through the installation of a grass waterway and the fact that Snavely no-tills most of his ground.
Income from credits generated through the manure reduction technology went to ElectroCell.
But the weak nutrient credit market, which Hoerr said is lacking in buyers, doesn’t bode well for companies banking on building a business by selling nutrient credits.
“Right now, because of sort of lack of demand in the credit market, there’s not much financial incentives. Essentially what we did, we adjusted our sales strategy,” he said.
Instead of trying to sell actual machines, the company just sells a service.
And while the odor reduction and better management of nutrients is appealing to farmers, Hoerr is finding more producers interested in adopting it to better manage their nutrients via the state’s phosphorus index.
Last year’s revisions to the state’s manure management manual gives producers the option of having a certified planner develop manure application rates using the phosphorus index.
“We’ve met with a number of farmers who have said they want to stratify nutrients and be able to manage to P-side index while still being able to get nitrogen from the manure,” he said.
While the machines are currently working on hog farms, Hoerr said there is a possibility they could work on dairy operations, perhaps by treating water that is used to flush barn alleys.
Snavely said the biggest benefit has been the reduction in odors when he spreads manure on his fields.
“The main benefit you can quantify is the odor reduction,” he said.
The system has also allowed him to keep manure at the farm, much of which he had to export before since he has only 100 acres to work with.
Snavely subcontracts with ElectroCell to take the machine to other farms in the area.
He said that although not many other farmers have picked up on the technology, it still has a lot of potential.
“It’s been slow to be received. They don’t really understand it. But the people that do understand it are very pleased with it,” he said.
http://www.lancasterfarming.com/results/Manure-Treatment-Technology-Gets-Environmental-Award-