New method of treating hog waste developed
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on September 28, 2014 1:50 AM
In 1992, Don Lloyd saw his first hog farm. He was astounded by the lagoon system, the smell and the waste.
North Carolina is second in the nation for hog production. Lloyd says hog waste is 27 times stronger than human waste, making it a huge environmental and health concern.
Lloyd and his business partner, Tom Demmy, have been working on changing the way hog waste is managed. Lloyd's 3rd Generation Hog Waste Treatment System changes everything.
In the current system, hog waste is kept under concrete slats until it is flushed weekly out to a lagoon to sit for up to a decade until it decomposes naturally.
"The current system is outdated and we all know that," said Demmy.
The first two systems Lloyd invented used bacteria and were cost-prohibitive due to state regulations.
The 3rd Generation system Lloyd invented revolutionizes hog waste, making it a money-maker.
The new system eliminates hog lagoons. This makes the smell, ammonia and pollution problems associated with hog farms disappear. It also makes spray fields obsolete, allowing those fields to become profit centers for farmers.
In the new system, the hog waste is flushed every three days into a separator, where liquids are decontaminated and drinkable and solids are turned into fertilizer.
Lloyd and Demmy have made proposals for three hog farms in Wayne County.
Demmy describes the new system as a "completed, close-ended system with no waste."
Because the system is contained, it eliminates airborne pathogens and cuts hog mortality in half.
Instead of capturing methane under a tarp over the lagoons, the waste is processed in a machine, where the methane is sent to a gasifier and turned into electricity to power the farm. Extra electricity could be sold back to the grid for profit. The system also captures carbon credits that can be cashed in.
Demmy and Lloyd have created a plan to retro-fit these customizable waste management plans to individual farms, at one third of the price of other systems.
"We can put this anywhere in the world, it's not dependent on temperature," Demmy said.
The management program is controlled by a computer that generates reports. The farmer is only responsible for cleaning the separator and supplying the chemical treatments.
The computer automates chemical mixing, removing another burden from the farmer.
The partners are trying to keep all supplies local. After installing a few systems, the duo is looking to sell their company and retire.