manure composting – Page 2 – Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community

March 5, 2019March 3, 2022

Educational and Commercial Resources for Manure Composting

Educational Resources

Cornell Composting
National Sustainable Agricultural Information Service (ATTRA)
- Soil & Compost
NRAES – Natural Resource Agricultural Engineering Services On Farm Composting Books
NRCS – National Engineering Handbook Part 637 “Composting”
Ohio Composting and Manure Management Program – OCAMM
Oregon State University – Alternative for Livestock Manure Management and Disposal of Dead Animals
University of Georgia – Poultry Mortality Composting Management Guide
University of Georgia – Food Waste Composting, Institutional and Industrial Applications
University of Nebraska – Composting Manure and Other Organic Residues
Virginia Tech University- On Farm Composting

Commercial Resources

BioCycle – Compost Industry Specific Monthly Publication
- BioCycle Directory of Equipment and Systems listing products and services
- Compost Science – Compost industry quarterly, peer reviewed journal
US Composting Council – Industry professional organization
Find a Composter in the US – Searchable database of compost facilities in the US

Consulting Resources

Coker Composting & Consulting, Roanoke VA, provides professional support to the composting industry with experience in planning, designing, building and running compost facilities
Tetra Tech provides responsible resource management and sustainable infrastructure services, offering innovative and cost effective solutions to complex problems
Midwest Biosystems offers consulting services to fit the need of any proposed or existing composting operation
Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, Inc. is a national management consulting firm that helps public and private sector organizations find solutions to solid waste management challenges

Author: Jason Governo, University of Georgia

March 5, 2019September 4, 2020

Equipment and Software for Manure Composting

Composting Equipment & Software

Engineered Compost Systems is a company that designs and manufactures equipment, including CompTroller(tm) compost control and monitoring systems, aeration hardware, motor controls, feedstock mixers, product refinement equipment, ASP pile building conveyors and transfer conveyor systems. They also provide technical support for compost process and facility design and trouble-shooting, pro-forma facility analysis, compost marketing support, and operator training.
Green Mountain Technologies designs and manufactures in-vessel composting equipment. It also supplies compost management software and instrumentation, including 1)Windrow Manager 2.0 Software which includes a handheld Pocket PC, probe for temperature and oxygen sampling, and desktop software; 2)Compost Lab, a full suite of tools for managing compost batch data; and 3)Compost Calc – Recipe Software for predicting success of compost batches beforehand.
Reotemp Instruments is a California composting company manufacturing bimetal thermometers, pressure gauges, diaphragm seals and related accessories, moisture meters, the EcoProbe wireless monitoring system that allows monitoring from the office and the Compost Data Logger that records up to 16,000 temperature readings over extended periods and is downloadable to computers.
Industrial Telemetry, Inc., an Oklahoma Company, provides the BioMESH WindRow Control software program designed to allow the user to track the building and managing of the WindRows, static or turned, of a compost facility using patented transceiver/repeater REALMESH radio telemetry coupled with some of ITI’s sophisticated mapping techniques to transmit and track information while supporting simultaneous manual data entry.
Midwest Bio-Systems manufactures specialized equipment for the production of humified compost. The Aeromaster line of compost turning equipment includes pull-type and self-propelled compost turners, water trailers, probes, thermometers, sulfide test kits, windrow covers and Aeromaster service parts. The Advanced Composting System line of inoculants include the N-Converter, Humifier and Finisher products.
Renewable Carbon Management, LLC sells and licenses the NaturTech Composting System for converting organic materials into value added commodities. It is a biofiltration, in-vessel composting system that can be located in the smallest area possible with production ranging in size from 4 to 1000 tons/day. Programs can be implemented within 5 to 75 days, depending on the complexity of the process.
Compost Wizard software program uses critical user-inputs such as types of feedstocks, types of equipment, number of workers and location of the facility, to develop a preliminary design of the composting process and facility, and an estimate of capital and operating costs. The user can quickly generate many different design scenarios that can be used to estimate the feasibility of composting as a waste management option.

Author: Jason Governo, University of Georgia

March 5, 2019March 25, 2019

Composting Livestock or Poultry Manure

Compost not only describes the completed degradation of a mixture of materials; it also denotes the process that materials undergo before becoming compost. A workable definition for compost is that it is an organic soil conditioner that has been stabilized to a humus like product, is free of viable human and plant pathogens and plant seeds, does not attract insects or vectors, can be handled and stored without nuisance, and is beneficial to the growth of plants. A more useful explanation of the process of composting is the controlled biological process of the decomposition of organic materials into a humus rich product that can be used beneficially as a soil amendment or in erosion control techniques.

Compost is produced through the activity of aerobic microorganisms that require oxygen, moisture and food. These microorganisms generate heat, water vapor and carbon dioxide as they transform raw materials into a compost product. Effective composting begins with a basic knowledge of the material or feedstock properties, the general principles of decomposition and a method for controlling the process.

What Factors Influence Composting?

There are a few feedstock characteristics that are most influential in the composting process. These include carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N ratio), moisture content, and the size and distribution of the feedstock particles. Raw materials blended to provide a C:N ratio between 25:1 and 30:1 is ideal for active composting, although initial C:N ratios from 20:1 to 40:1 consistently give good composting results.

High quality mature compost

When ratios fall outside this range, odor problems and longer composting times can be the result. Too little moisture, as well as too much moisture, can lead to poor composting conditions and decreased microbial activity. A moisture content ranging between 40-60% usually provides the water levels needed by microbes without saturating the required air pore space within the compost matrix . With regard to particle size distribution, a size of 90 percent cumulative passing through 2 to 3 inch openings usually is sufficient to provide a composting substrate with adequate surface area for microbial degradation and with adequate porosity for the storage of oxygen.

Methods of Manure Composting

Harnessing the natural process of decomposition to best serve a purpose within a set of specific parameters is the basis for composting systems. There are four general composting groups or methods commonly used by the composting industry:

Additional Information About Manure Composting

Author: Jason Governo, University of Georgia

March 5, 2019March 25, 2019

Aerated Manure Composting

Aerated Composting

Aerated static pile composting modifies the passive composting technique by using blowers to supply air to the composting feedstocks. This process does not involve turning and/or agitation of the piles after the initial mixture of feedstocks. Bulking agents are often used to help maintain the porosity structure of the piles, which aids in pile aeration. Electronic feedback controls are often used to monitor the pile temperature and control the operation of aerating blowers.

For more information, see Low-Cost Aerated Static Composting for Small Horse Farms

Aerated static pile composting. CC 2.5 Jason Governo.

June 19, 2015April 19, 2021

Horse Manure Composting: Specific Steps to Start or Improve the Process

This webcast discusses various aspects of composting horse manure. Bedding options and how they impact the composting process as well as basic design considerations in large and small operations are discussed. This presentation was originally broadcast on June 19, 2015. More… Continue reading “Horse Manure Composting: Specific Steps to Start or Improve the Process”

May 22, 2015April 19, 2021

Micro Manure Management

This webinar takes a look at the smallest manure managers, microbes and soil mesofauna, and how the work they do can drive our farming systems. This presentation was originally broadcast on May 22, 2015. More… Continue reading “Micro Manure Management”