A new company locating in central Iowa plans to build a machine that can take livestock manure, process it with driers and ultrasound and make the smell virtually vanish while retaining the useful nutrients for a fertilizer. Doug Kostlan is a vice president at Ag Waste Recovery Systems, which will soon build its first manufacturing facility in the Hardin County town of Eldora. Kostlan says the process used to make almost-smell-free fertilizer is a combination of several technologies that have been around for a while and are proven. He says high-powered ultrasonic equipment is used with an innovative drying technique to put science to work in eliminating hog waste odors. He says the dry material that’s left contains 97-percent of the nutrients that were in the manure originally, no pathogens and the odor is reduced by 97-percent. Kostlan says they plan to build mobile systems that can be hauled directly to a farm’s waste lagoon. He says the mobility allows several farmers to go together to purchase the system, or a coop could buy one and use it, or someone could buy one and take it around to several facilities.Kostlan anticipates the soon-to-be-built Eldora facility will employ 20 to 30 people. He says the first mobile system should be ready to roll out in August, just in time for the Iowa State Fair.
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