RENURE from manure: recovering valuable nitrogen

What is RENURE?

RENURE stands for Recovered Nitrogen from Manure. These fertilisers have an effect comparable to mineral nitrogen fertilisers. Production and use are subject to quality requirements and conditions. Carefully designed processes and final product analysis are therefore part of the route towards RENURE.

From manure or digestate to nitrogen recovery

The process begins with understanding the incoming stream. How much manure or digestate is available? What are the dry matter and nitrogen concentrations? Solid-liquid separation can prepare the liquid fraction for further treatment. AWS considers all streams together, including the destination of the solid fraction and remaining water.

Stripping, capture and membrane treatment

One possible route releases ammonia and captures it as an ammonium salt. Another route may use membrane treatment, including reverse osmosis. The choice depends on stream composition, the intended final product and integration with the complete installation. Both the product and production process must meet the applicable requirements.

Combining with mono-manure digestion

Digestion recovers part of the energy in manure while nitrogen remains largely in the digestate. Nitrogen recovery is a further processing step. Designing digestion, separation and nitrogen recovery together allows heat demand, energy availability and residual-stream treatment to be coordinated.

Product quality, sampling and registration

RENURE production requires matters including producer registration, consistent product quality, sampling and records. AWS includes these product and process requirements in the design. Final quality must be supported by analyses. The RVO website sets out the current Dutch requirements for producers and users.

A technical route suited to your business

An initial assessment starts with manure supply, existing installations and the desired destination of nitrogen and other fractions. From Meurs Technisch Ingenieursbureau in Lochem, we connect AWS’s process knowledge with engineering and delivery. Nitrogen recovery becomes part of the complete system, including maintenance and service.

Current RENURE production requirements at RVO ↗

Read more about mono-manure digestion and biogas ↗