Comparison of physical mechanical properties of granulated fertilizer produced from composted cattle and dried cow, pig and poultry manure

The advantages of granular organic fertilizers are more convenient handling, storage, transportation, compared to traditional management of manure with litter. Manure granulation can increase the bulk density, improve storability, reduce transportation costs, and make these materials easier to handle using traditional existing handling and storage equipment. There were prepared four experimental samples of various manure mill and granules in laboratory conditions. For granule production a 7.5 kW granulator, with a horizontal 6 mm matrix was used. During the research, the physical-mechanical characteristics were estimated: biometric properties (dimensions, mass), raw material and granule volume and density, humidity, and granule strength of various composition cattle, cow, pig, and poultry manure material. Cattle manure compost contained the most material (65%) of the mass fraction, up to 0.25 mm. In dried cow, pig, and poultry manure, the amount of fraction material was mostly from 1 to 2 mm. The obtained results show that the highest bulk density of the prepared mill was from cow manure and the lowest bulk density was from poultry manure. The highest moisture content was also for cow manure, and the lowest determined moisture content was for poultry manure samples. The highest density was determined for cattle manure compost granules. The highest compressive strength, in the horizontal plane, was determined for hen manure granules, the force required to crush them reached 657 N. The aim of this work is to compare the main physical and mechanical properties of the studied manure material and produced experimental granules.