Drying poultry manure outside of the house is a system with future. This is why Big Dutchman developed a new generation of plate drying systems for residue treatment which produce perfectly dried manure and need very little maintenance. The new technical features of OptiPlate are very convincing: Four new dryers have already been installed in the Netherlands since 2012. Three further dryers will start operating this year in France, the last one during the summer.
Innovative residue treatment
The plate drying system was developed in cooperation with the Dutch company AMP Technoworks. The system's compactness is especially striking, as it can even be installed at the gable site. Regarding the total length of the system, Jos Verheggen, AMP Technoworks, explains: “The compact construction of OptiPlate can be attributed to the improved traction force of the plates compared to belt dryers.” The result: the dryer is not even 24 meters long.
Its intake capacity is just as impressive: The perforated steel plates allow for a layer height of up to 20 cm. Moreover, the house air dries the fresh manure within three days – with a dry matter content of up to 90 percent.
Poultry house climate improves
“Drying fresh manure as soon as possible has many advantages,” says Rob Zanders from Versleijen AGRI bv, long-term Big Dutchman sales representative in the Netherlands and responsible for selling the four dryers in the neighbouring country. “Degradation processes can be stopped by extracting the liquids and the amount of developing smell and ammonia is significantly reduced. The weight of the manure also decreases.”
The poultry house climate improves greatly if the manure is transported from the shed within one day. This also benefits the hens' health. In addition, the emission of fine dust is reduced by 50 percent thanks to the final drying of the manure.
Unique plate redirection – low susceptibility to failure
A further advantage is the fact that the new plate drying system has proven to have very few failures: OptiPlate is equipped with a new, L-shaped plate redirection unit and a scraper at one end. This prevents clogged holes in the steel plates, ensuring that the manure falls through easily onto the next lower plate. An accumulation of manure is avoided. Another benefit is the fact that always the same side of a plate remains at the top. This keeps the underside of the plate clean.
“We first thoroughly examined all systems available on the market and listed their drawbacks and advantages,” illustrated Verheggen to show how Big Dutchman and AMP Technoworks cooperated for the development of the new system. “Next, we focused on the problems regarding residue treatment, found solutions and tested these extensively.” The pleasing result: The weak points of existing systems have been eliminated for OptiPlate.
Filling station and chopper
Two more improvements of the system are planned: For one, a filling station is to be included. This station will continually supply the dryer with manure. This will balance any fluctuations regarding the amount of supplied manure. Thanks to a distributor auger which spreads the manure perfectly on the belt, an even layer of manure enters the systems, ensuring the most efficient drying possible.
Additionally, a chopper will be installed at approximately half of the drying distance. This chopper will break up the half-dried manure to shorten the drying time and to reduce the volume of the manure.
amacs controls and manages residue treatment
There are also updates regarding the controlling of the system. “In future, OptiPlate will be controlled and managed by Big Dutchman's management and control system amacs – as uncomplicated as possible at the touch screen. The system can of course also be operated via your smartphone or tablet PC”, announces Verheggen.