A Better Way to Manage Digestate

Thinking Beyond RNG

New membrane technology is at the heart of a new nutrient concentration option to decrease digestate management costs while increasing sustainability. ZwitterCo superfiltration membranes enable an economical, reliable, and sustainable transition away from hauling and pave a path to the future of digestate management.

Challenges in Digestate

ZwitterCo-Enabled Solution

High Cost of Offsite Hauling

  • Paying to dispose of excess digestate
  • Fuel costs increasing

Reduce Offsite Hauling

  • Digestate volume reduced up to 50%
  • Enable concentration of NPK for organic fertilizer
  • Lower CI score

Strict Nutrient Regulations

  • Agricultural runoff causing polluted waterways
  • Increasing nitrogen and phosphorus application regulations

Concentrated Nutrients

  • Small volume of concentrate allows for easy storage
  • Saleable product from excess nutrients

Frustrating Land Application Practices

  • Large volume of digestate to land spread
  • Solids in digestate clog rotary pivots
  • Odorous material on land

Easy Land Application

  • Concentrated fertilizer requires less volume to be spread
  • Won’t clog pivots
  • Reduced odor on land

Ready to see a difference in your digestate management practices?

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manure spreading

ZwitterCo Enabling Technology

ZwitterCo’s breakthrough membrane technology enables filtration for the most challenging separations. The membrane can handle streams with up to over 25,000 ppm chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total solids (TS). It offers full performance recovery after a mild maintenance wash, and lasts for years in streams that would ruin standard membranes in days. See the difference in this manure digestate example:

Original Process

  • $3M/year hauling manure digestate
  • Facing regulatory pressure on soil and groundwater contamination from land application

New Solution

  • RO concentrate captures ammonia-based nitrogen as a saleable organic liquid fertilizer
  • ZwitterCo SF rejects all RO foulants, protecting the downstream RO process and enabling consistent, sustainable generation of a concentrated nutrient stream and a reusable or dischargeable clean water stream

Outcome

  • Treatment costs reduced by $1.5M/year
  • Commercial installation based on pilot results
manure digestate jars showing permeate, concentrate, and more

Manure Digestate Partner - North America

Digested Organics is our partner for North America.

Discover how superfiltration can make a difference with your anaerobic digester.

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