DE102020004115A1 - Recycling of climate-damaging nitrogen and carbon compounds on farms - Google Patents

Abstract

The recycling problem.
The hitherto customary recycling of residues via compost heaps and slurry spreading prevents climate-damaging exhaust emissions only very imperfectly. Alternative attempts have not been successful because they are technically too complex and too expensive compared to the nitrogen fertilizer produced industrially according to the Haber-Bosch process. So the climate drama continues unchecked.
Minimizing costs.
The recycling of operational residues into climate-neutral fertilizers is carried out for all residues jointly by means of microbial activity, so that at the end of these processes an equally suitable nitrogen fertilizer is available from all types of residues.
The structural structure of the recycling plant
Due to the cascading, graduated sequence of the containers (Fig. 1), the flow of the aqueous, dissolved degradation substances through all the containers is automatic:
- The 1st container is a normal slurry tank. It stands at ground level and holds stable manure and / or water as a storage container and supplier of the aqueous phase for the subsequent process containers.
- The 2 container is about 0.70 m deep below the edge of the earth, about 1.30 m wide and at least 10 m long. Here the bacterial conversion of the organic substances takes place in a simulation of normal soil processes; In addition to liquid manure and manure, also plant cuttings entered directly.
- The 3rd container is directly connected to the composter and is lowered approx. 2.5 m from the top of the earth. The possibly humic acid filtrate flowing in from the 2nd container can be neutralized with heaped garden lime using a grid placed on top. The result is a plant-physiologically optimal nitrogen fertilizer, which can be applied as a liquid fertilizer with a mobile water tank when needed.

Description

The climate emergency reached a new high in 2018 with the extreme heat and dryness of the ground. According to general understanding, the cause is a steady increase in the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (from fossil carbon sources) for 100 years as well as the exhaust of the nitrogen gases ammonia and nitrous oxide from agricultural production (lit. 1) and additional N production from 150 million tons worldwide ( 2017) biologically active nitrogen fertilizer according to the Haber-Bosch method (Ref. 2). Avoiding this flooding with climate-damaging gases, insofar as they are agriculturally justified, is a critical starting point for solving the problem.

The fact that there is even a market for annual additional nitrogen production according to the Haber-Bosch process can be understood with the following consideration: Every year, millions of farmers around the world make millions of empty nitrogen holes on their fields with their crops. But these holes have to be filled in again before sowing for the next harvest, if a new harvest is to succeed. In the meantime, the nitrogen emissions from the protein of animals and plants from previous year's harvests are spreading around the world, damaging the climate.

(Picture 2)

As far as we know, there is no laboratory process and no natural process that could reverse the modification of the nitrogen molecule using the H.B. process. The content of biologically active nitrogen with a high heat capacity is growing from year to year around the world.

• - alle Reststoffe aus tierischer und pflanzlicher Produktion erfasst,
• - vollständigen Abbau bzw. Umbau auf biologisch übliche Weise leistet,
• - in einem vollwertigen und zeitlich bedarfsgerechten Stickstoffdünger mündet.

This untenable situation is the starting point for the claimed patent. It is supposed to be a procedure that

• - all residues from animal and vegetable production are recorded,
• - complete dismantling or remodeling in a biologically usual way,
• - leads to a full-fledged nitrogen fertilizer that is tailored to your needs.

The technical effort associated with this 3-phase model is minimal in relation to the achievable climate benefit. Nevertheless, it is not certain that these or similar models will introduce themselves. The investment in individual farms is comparatively low at around € 25,000 as in the previous example and with a long service life, and savings in annual fertilizer purchases are also to be expected. But if you are short of money, as is generally the case today due to the disastrous market position of farmers, you will probably consider whether you can still invest if you cannot be sure that the money invested will come back to you. It is the fatal error of the prevailing neo-liberal market ideology (according to Friedrich von Hayek) that the automatism of self-organizing market participants alone leads to a universally satisfactory result. This error is all the more serious when desirable market results in an intertwined economy can only be achieved through several market levels, the individual interests of which do not coincide (for details, Refs. 4 and 5); as evidently especially with the climate, which is a world problem. Here, an optimal solution can only be found through a joint organization, i.e. usually through the state. In the present case of climate-friendly investments in agricultural businesses, this task could fall to a state investment company: It transfers the recycling systems it finances to the individual farms for free use.

The constructive model according to the patent claim consists of 3 cascading tanks connected by valves (Fig. 1); covered on all sides and permeable with liquid.

The 1st container is a 5000 liter plastic tank. It contains stable manure and / or water as a storage tank for the subsequent process tanks. It has a manually operated valve on the bottom side with a connection to the second container that begins immediately next to it.

The 2nd container (composter = converter) is 0.70 m deep under the earth's edge, 1.30 m wide and at least 10 m long. This is where the bacterial degradation and conversion of organic residues takes place in the replication of known and common soil processes (Lit.3). There are essentially 3 steps that run one after the other:

Phase: ammonification

Release of ammonia (NH ₃ ) from organic nitrogen compounds through bacterial degradation of organic residues (liquid manure, fresh clippings) H ₂ N-CO-NH ₂ + H ₂ O → 2NH ₃ + CO ₂

Phase: nitrification

Oxidation of ammonia with molecular oxygen by ammonia hydroxidePerending bacteria. All are obligatory aerobic. 2NH ₃ + 3O ₂ → 2NO ₂ + 2H + 2H ₂ O

Phase: denitrification

Bacterial reductase of the nitrate to gaseous nitrogen compounds, mainly N ₂ O (laughing gas). Exhaust gas into the open atmosphere, which is otherwise common in freely accessible nature, is not only prevented here by the foil cover of the composter, but also due to the fact that the process is interrupted after the end of the 2nd phase by opening the drain valve, i.e. still in the acidic phase at the end of nitrification.

The third container (stainless steel filtrate cistern) is directly connected to the composter and is lowered 2.5 m from the edge of the earth. The filtrate cistern is connected to the composter via the inlet valve on the upper edge. Once the compost has completed the 2nd maturation step (nitrification) (see phase 2 above), the inlet valve to the cistern is opened a little. The delayed flow of humic acid filtrate seeps through a mesh sieve placed on the upper edge of the cistern with heaped coarse-grain fertilizer lime and thereby neutralizes in the direction of calcium nitrate.

The filtrate resulting from the above 3-container system (maximum 5000 liters per batch) is a plant-physiologically full-fledged fertilizer that is optimally accessible to plants. Because of its watery form, it can be applied easily, without loss and promptly using known technology.

Claims (3)

The 1st container (tank) contains all liquid raw materials, i.e. liquid manure from animal husbandry or just water, if this is needed to moisten dry compost material in the 2nd container. The container has a hand-operated drain valve on the bottom with a direct inlet to the 2nd container. The 2nd container (composter) is a tub, at least 10m long, approx. 1.30 m wide and 0.70 deep. It is sunk so deep into the earth that the upper edge is at the level of the floor drain valve of the 1st container. At the end, the 2nd container has a drain valve directly above the floor, which opens into the 3rd container and can be opened from the outside. It is closed or opened depending on the desired moisture content and degree of ripeness of the compost (pH value). A drainage system is inserted over the entire length of the second container on the floor, through which the remaining carbon mulch can be dried by means of solar-heated outside air after the liquid substances have drained off. The 3rd container is a liquid cistern, which lies directly at the end of the 2nd container and takes the liquid from the 2nd container that has matured into nitrogen fertilizer. A fine-meshed sieve is inserted below the inlet from the reservoir. A pouring of granular fertilizer-lime neutralizes incoming humic acid compounds. The cistern must be sunk deep enough into the ground that it can absorb the liquid flowing in / seeping in from the 2nd container in free fall, otherwise an unintentional backwater will occur. The cistern is emptied directly into the mobile application tank by means of a suction pump.

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