8 August 2016

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Research and Development Centre in Sherbrooke will soon operate a bioreactor unlike any other in the country, which will be able to transform agricultural waste into fertilizer at low temperatures.

The working principle of this new equipment, purchased with $1.5M from the 2016 federal budget, will be based on an innovative technology developed for our colder climate by AAFC in collaboration with Sherbrooke company Bio-Terre Systems: the process enables anaerobic digestion of agricultural waste at temperatures between 5°C and 25°C.

At such low temperatures, the decomposition process requires less energy and produces less greenhouse gas.

This process will produce a phosphorus-rich, odourless, solid compound, which will be used as fertilizer for dairy and hog producers. The methane emissions will be used to power the dairy centre’s water heater at AAFC Sherbrooke, a member of Sherbrooke’s University Pole. A third compound, a fluid, will be studied to assess its potential value.

The announcement was made by the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie and MP for Compton-Stanstead, Marie-Claude Bibeau, and Jean-Claude Poissant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and MP for La Prairie.

Sources: Government of Canada and La Tribune