CHIMERA reinvents the chicken manure disposal process. Chicken manure requires specific treatment procedures in order to optimize its nutritious and, at the same time, reduce its environmental impact.

Nowadays, chicken manure disposal is mostly delivered to waste-to-energy plants: farmers have to manage some activities such as shelter and storage, which produce emissions (e.g. ammonia, methane, nitrous oxide, greenhouse gases).

CHIMERA solves all those issues related to the management of chicken manure thanks to a “ready and easy to use” solution, which works in small farms or farm districts for meat (broiler) and/or eggs production laying hen. The dimension of the plant is limited (15 × 9 × 6 m) and can be installed within any sized farm.

CHIMERA’s ambition consists of transforming chicken manure into a fertilizer, while producing energy, and thus creating a circular economy model.  CHIMERA is an innovative   solution in the name of sustainability.

The CHIMERA project becomes true thanks to the EU financing of the LIFE programme, GA n. LIFE15 ENV/IT/000631, and the collaboration between 3P Engineering Srl, an Italian engineering company and project coordinator of the project, and Renders&Renders V.O.F., Dutch poultry farm.

CHIMERA is a small size chicken manure disposal plant (15 × 9 × 6 m) working at continuous cycle. In broiler farms a small storage for chicken manure has to be set, since the production is not continuous. In eggs’ production sites, where chicken manure is continuously produced, its management is immediate: manure is transferred through a conveyor belt into the combustion unit and processed to be transformed into fertilizer and energy.

The technological innovation related to the burner allows a more efficient fumes treatment and a combination of the fumes’ organic elements together with the ashes’ inorganic ones.

At the end of the process, a by-product is obtained: through a decanter, the liquid part is separated from the solid part. The liquid part is reintroduced into the smoke treatment circuit, without the system consuming water The dry part has the characteristics of a fertilizer rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to be spread on land for corn and wheat production.

Made 10 the amount of manure generated in the farm, the amount of fertilizers produced by the plan will be equal to 1.

The heat produced during the combustion process is conveyed through dedicated pipes into sheds used for breeding and, in part, transformed into electric energy to support the farm’s daily operations.

The water obtained from the treatment of chicken manure, which is an extremely humid substance, is completely reused to hydrate ashes and break down the pollutants contained in the fumes.

The first two prototypes have been installed in the Marche region, in Italy, while the real scale pilot plan is working in 2022 at the Renders & Renders farm in the Noord-Brabant region, in the Netherlands.