GRRO News
FIRM TO TURN PIG WASTE INTO PROFIT
Manatee County Bradenton, FL January 13, 2004
By DANA SANCHEZ, HERALD STAFF WRITER
MANATEE – Loran Balvanz has figured out how to
make a
silk purse from a sow’s rear.
Global Resource Recovery Organization,
headquartered on
State Road 70, has entered into an agreement with Iowa based United
Suppliers
Inc., to build a $650,000 swine confinement facility in Hardin County
Iowa that
will be like no other. Swine waste will
be turned into a value-added product that can be sold for profit:
high-quality
organic fertilizer. The goal is to
create a better environment for animals and neighbors.
The technology has applications for Florida
dairy
farmers, paper mills, and municipalities dealing with sludge disposal
issues,
Balvanz said.
Balvanz’s achievement is no laughing matter,
but among
Iowa’s swine farmers, the jokes abound.
They have to deal with the stench of swine manure, a smell that
causes
feuds between neighbors and permeates clothing and the skin. “You wouldn’t last two seconds in there”,
Balvanz said. The smell of waste from
dairy farms on hot summer days is familiar to residents living in East
Manatee
along Upper Manatee River Road. His new
technology has the potential to cut down those problems.
Balvanz’s Tempest Drying System will reduce the
odor
problems by more than 50 percent and eliminate the need for lagoons and
under-building storage of swine waste.
“This is a huge change for the swine farmer and
the
swine.” Balvanz said.
With the federal government cracking down on
pollution
caused by over-flowing lagoons and poor air quality inside swine
confinement
facilities his business aims to capitalize on future legislation.
“I predict that in five years there’ll be
regulations
controlling the treatment and spread of manure coming from confinement
set-ups,” Balvanz said. “It’s not
because mad cow disease is spread that way.
It’s because they can’t tell you it isn’t”.
Balvanz’s system will remove waste
automatically from swine confinement facilities two to six times a day
using
large scrapers. The material will fall
into temporary underground storage, and when the waste reached a
certain
height, the Tempest Drying System automatically turns on.
The waste is dried using air spinning up to
500 miles per hour in a cyclonic system.
Heated to 200 degrees, the air kills e-coli, and pathogens. Under only two pounds of air pressure, the
system is safe, Balvanz said. Moisture
is atomized, so that what comes out doesn’t smell bad.
Iowa is the No. 1 swine producer in the United
States,
and Hardin is the No. 1 swine-producing county.
United Suppliers is a whole-sale distributor
and
manufacturer of agricultural feed, fertilizer, and chemicals. Member-owned, United has 822 members in 13
states and does business in more than 2000 outlets.
The company has sales exceeding $500 million.
Anything that reduces the environmental impact
for swine
farmers is a huge thing, said Cliff Daugherty, division manager of
fertilizer
with United Suppliers.
“Any time you can reduce the volume of waste,
you can
make it manageable as a recoverable resource”, Daugherty said. “Transportation costs are reduced you can
transport this material away economically and use it to grow crops. The implications I’m not sure we know all of
them yet, but we think it’s great”.
Balvanz’s system will reduce the volume of pig
waste by
90 percent, Daugherty said. The planned
swine confinement facility in Hardin County will consist of two
buildings on
four acres each measuring 80 by 200 feet, each housing 1,000 pigs.
Balvanz’s technology is unique in that it can
be
portable, it preserves nutrient and atomizes liquids said Barry Kintzer
national environmental engineer for the Natural Resources Conservation
Service,
a USDA agency in Washington.
Kintzer has visited the Burt Farm site where
Balvanz’s
system will be built. “I’ve seen similar
systems but never one that is in full-scale operation.” Kintzer said. “If it works as proposed, it should be a
benefit. You’re improving the air, reducing odors, and the solid
material will
improve soil quality.”
The building will be paid for by United
Suppliers, Global
Resource and private grants. Balvanz
sees dividends coming down the road rather than instantly.
“United Suppliers isn’t paying Global Resources
a dime,”
Balvanz said. “But I’m going to have access to 800 members in 13 states. It’s like having instant and unlimited
exposure to the whole agricultural industry.”
His only competition, Balvanz said, is the
status quo. “It’s the existing
distribution, how they get
rid of the waste right now. But with all
the government regulations, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about
that much
longer.”
Kintzer agreed.
Given the track record over the past 110 years, he predicts the
amount
of legislation for waste disposal will likely increase.
For dairy farmers, the Tempest system has
applications
for bedding. Many dairies use sand for
bedding. The sand gets hosed out along
with manure into large lagoons.
Eventually, the water has to be treated.
A farm with 5,000 head of cattle might spend $30,000 to $50,000
a month
on sand.
His system could separate waste from sand and
return
clean sand to farmers for recycling, Balvanz said.
Arlie Musgrave, co-owner of Musgrave Dairies,
said
housing cattle is typically a bigger issue a bigger issue in the
colder,
northern states, than in Florida where cattle often sleep in the
pasture. The idea of having a value-added,
end product
from animal waste is appealing to him, he said.
“There’s a lot of ideas like that out there
that are
getting more popular”, Musgrave said.
“Anything that helps the environment is good.
But I don’t think they’ll make it any better
than it’s already made.”
Balvanz hopes to demonstrate his system to
Manatee County
in late spring as a possible solution for drying sludge.
A previous demonstration 18 months ago was
unsuccessful because a sticky polymer used by all municipalities to
coagulate
sewage didn’t allow his machine to work properly, Balvanz said.
He has adapted his technology to work with
polymers and
hopes for better results next time, he said.
Dana Sanchez, Herald Business reporter, can be reached at dsanchez@bradentonherald.com or at 745-7080, ext. 4500.