EU awards €7.78 million grant for new project producing high-added value bio-based fertilisers from animal manure
30 May 2020
FERTIMANURE, an innovative project that will develop, integrate, test and validate novel Nutrient Management Strategies to efficiently recover mineral nutrients and other relevant products with agronomic value from animal manure has been awarded a Є7.78 million grant by the EU under its Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. The 48-month project, which brings together 20 partners from 7 EU countries and Argentina - including universities, research centres, cluster organisations, public bodies, SMEs and NGOs – aims to achieve a zero-waste manure management approach and obtain reliable and safe fertilisers able to compete in the European fertiliser market. The EU livestock sector is the largest in the world, and manure by far the largest nutrient-rich residual biomass flow generated by this sector. This important biomass stream needs to be upgraded into tailor-made fertilisers that comply with the requirements of different crops to minimise losses to the environment.
While the production of mineral fertilisers from non-renewable mined rock deposits (P) and those based on fossil energy (N) have contributed to food security for the world’s growing population, the current dependency of EU agriculture on scarce resources like natural gas and rock phosphate must be regarded as a very serious threat and challenge to future food security.
FERTIMANURE will develop innovative solutions, including technology, end-products, and business models, to help reconnect nutrient flows between crop production and the rearing of livestock, solve real issues such as manure management, and assist farmers with the challenges that they are facing today.
Five pilot plants will be set up in Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Germany within the framework of the project which has an overall budget of €8.42 million, including partner contributions.
FERTIMANURE project coordinator Laia Llenas commented: “We are very excited to begin working together on this challenging project. We are confident that FERTIMANURE will lead to breakthroughs in manure management by developing a new circular business model aimed at closing nutrient cycles at the regional and EU level. I would like to express my thanks to our partners from Europe and the CELAC countries who have made this possible and, I am sure, will be working hard over the next four years to help make our goals a reality. Finally, we would also like to thank the European Commission for funding our project and giving us the opportunity of working on this FERTIMANURE project”.
The project launch took place in Vic (Barcelona) on 9 & 10 January 2020.
The FERTIMANURE website www.fertimanure.eu went live on 8 May 2020.
For further information contact: Rodrigo Arandi-Klee (in English, Spanish and French), Communication and Dissemination Manager - info@fertimanure.eu
PARTNER CONTACT DETAILS:
Project coordinator
Fundació Universitària Balmes (Spain) – Laia Llenas - laia.llenas@uvic.cat
Project beneficiaries
1. Ghent University (Belgium) – Erik Meers - erik.meers@ugent.be and Aurore Assaker – aurore.assaker@ugent.be
2. Stichting Wageningen Research (The Netherlands) – Oscar Schoumans - oscar.schoumans@wur.nl
3. University of Milan (Italy) – Fabrizio Adani - fabrizio.adani@unimi.it
4. Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Associacion (Spain) – Anna Lloveras - alloveras@leitat.org
5. GreenWin (Belgium) – Rodrigo Arandi-Klee – rodrigo.arandi@greenwin.be
6. European Landowners Organisation (Belgium) – Marie-Alice Budniok - legal@elo.org 7. IPS Konzalting (Croatia) – Ana Marija Spicnagel - ams@ips-konzalting.hr
8. Fraunhofer (Germany) – Juan Pablo Gutierrez - juan.gutierrez@umsicht.fraunhofer.de
9. Dorset Green Machines (The Netherlands) – Eelco Haaring - e.haaring@dorset.nu
10. Prinsen Dairy Company (The Netherlands) – Arjan Prinsen - arjan@groot-zevert.nl; Arjan@famprinsen.info
11. French Chamber of Agriculture (France) – Ka Ho Yim – ka-ho.yim@apca.chambagri.fr
12. Cooperativa Plana de Vic (Spain) – Gemma Muns - gmuns@planadevic.cat
13. AlgaEnergy S.A. (Spain) – José Maria de Gregorio - jmg@algaenergy.es
14. Fertinagro Biotech (Spain) – Begoña Arrufat – bego.arrufat@tervalis.com
15. RITTMO Agroenvironnement (France) – Laure Metzger - laure.metzger@rittmo.com
16. Agrifutur (Italy) – Roberto Kron-morelli - roberto.kron-morelli@agrifutur.it
17. Departament d'Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca I Alimentació (Spain) – Carlos Ortiz – carlos.ortiz@gencat.cat
18. Fertilizers Europe (Belgium) – Tiffanie Stephani - tiffanie@fertilizerseurope.com
19. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (Argentina) – Diana Crespo - crespo.diana@inta.gob.ar
About BETA Tech Centre at UVIC, the project coordinator: The Technological Centre for Biodiversity, Ecology and Environmental Technology (BETA Tech Centre) at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVIC-UCC), aims to improve competitiveness and technological development in companies through R&D projects at local, state, European and international levels by developing and transferring innovative and competitive technology with sustainable criteria to the food, waste, and environmental sectors.
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This project has received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 862849
Disclaimer: this press release a. reflects only the author’s view; and b. exempts the European Commission from any use that may be made of the information it contains. __________________________________________________________________________________
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