GasAbate N+: Additive Technology to Prevent Greenhouse Gas Emissions and to Enhance the Fertiliser and Bioeconomy Feedstock Value of Animal Manures and Slurries

Project Information

GasAbate N-plus

Grant agreement ID: 101010197

DOI

10.3030/101010197

Project closed

EC signature date 1 September 2020

Start date 1 August 2020

End date 31 July 2023

Funded under

• PRIORITY 'Societal challenges

Total cost

€ 3 540 330,00

EU contribution

€ 2 478 231,00

Coordinated by

GLASPORT BIO LIMITED
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GasAbate N-plus (GasAbate N+: Additive Technology to Prevent Greenhouse Gas Emissions and to Enhance the Fertiliser and Bioeconomy Feedstock Value of Animal Manures and Slurries)

Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2023-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

An additive developed in Ireland and capable of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from slurry by more than 98% while increasing its nutrient value will soon be available to farmers.
GlasPort Bio has developed GasAbate N+ which acts on the microorganisms that cause methane and other polluting gases when it is added periodically to stored slurry and manure.
The biotechnology company has een awarded €2.5m in European Union funding to complete the product’s development to the point of market launch.

Trials have shown that use of the additive results in a near cessation of all gaseous emissions, not only massively cutting GHG production from slurry and manure but making it more valuable as a fertiliser and renewable energy feedstock for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants.
In Europe, emissions from livestock manure and slurry account for approximately 15.5% of all GHG emissions from the agricultural sector, or 1.5% of all European emissions. GHGs are produced by microorganisms in these animal wastes, depleting the nitrogen and carbon content of the material and making it a weaker fertiliser and renewable energy resource. This results in a need for more chemical fertiliser to be applied to farmland and for AD plants to purchase so-called energy crops to co-digest alongside slurry.

GasAbate N+ uniquely solves this problem. Independent tests had shown that its use results in farmers purchasing approximately 30% less mineral fertiliser, the biogas output from AD increasing by almost 40% and GHG emissions reducing by more than 98%. The product does not require any specialist equipment or disruption of existing work flows on farm or on the AD plant. Dr Friel describes winning the €2.5m European Commission grant under the EIC Accelerator program as a “great boost’’ for the company. The funding will allow large-scale testing to take place on commercial sites and the scaling up of the product for market launch. “Through use of GasAbate N+ farmers can make large savings on mineral fertiliser costs, AD plants can see greater productivity and profitability from use of GasAbate N+, while society will benefit from reduced GHG emissions.’’
Dr Friel says he expects the technology to have a major impact globally since fertiliser manufacturers, livestock producers and food and dairy companies are under pressure to be more sustainable and to deliver produce with a lower carbon footprint. Solutions are also needed to generate carbon credits to offset emissions across the entire production chain, he adds.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The Project team have currently just completed month 12 of the GasAbate N+ project.
WP1: Project Management, Dissemination and Communication.
Status: Ongoing throughout Year 1: management and communications, data management plan, risk management planning. Significant work carried out in this WP with weekly group meetings; monthly in-depth meetings with external parties. Promotion and dissemination materials generated in Year 1 include: infographics (attached), social media campaign (Twitter, LinkedIn), science animation (distributed widely on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter etc.), impact reports based on reactions from social media and dissemination of science animation. Project website was completed and all outputs are to feed into the D1: Life Cycle analysis on benefits of GasAbate N+ usage; Due in year 2 of the GasAbate N+ project.

WP2: Development of large-scale manufacturing.
Status: Majority complete, i.e. Product stability, shelf-life and storage conditions identified; final product specification and supporting documentation (ongoing); GasAbate product ready for field trials (Ireland, Europe, elsewhere), Raw materials suppliers and CMOs identified. All research fed into Deliverable 2.1 submitted on July 31st 2021.

WP3: Large-scale efficacy validation of GasAbate N+
Status: Farm-scale studies at Teagasc, Ireland are ongoing with dairy cattle using 660L of cattle slurry for treatment with the GasAbate N+ additive to reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions. Anaerobic digestion for energy outputs, as well as agronomic studies will be performed on-site. Discussions ongoing with another European dairy farm site for trial 2 to start in late 2021.

WP4: Regulatory Approval
Status: Research ongoing to feed into ECHA dossier for GasAbate (Tasks 4.1 - 4.8). All outputs in this including: physical and chemical properties, residues and efficacy profile, potential toxic and ecotoxicological effects and endocrine assessment and environmental fate and behaviour, were compiled into D6.1 submitted on July 31, 2021.

WP5: Commercialisation and internal growth strategy
Status: Our Business Development Director has been key in working on tasks 5.1 - 5.4; outputs have fed into a Year 1 Product Launch Plan under Milestone 5. Document available for review.

WP6: Ethics Requirements
Status: This WP was added by the EC upon approval of the GasAbate project, essentially requires that the project collate the items required to satisfy T4.1 Article 12(1) and Annex VI of REACH to collect and include in the registration dossier all physicochemical and environmental fate properties, as well as toxicity and eco-toxicity data of the substance. This task involved the compilation of required information and will produce the key deliverable of a dossier for submission to ECHA including: T4.5 Report on potential toxic effects: A thorough review was undertaken, and data compiled on the potential toxicity of short-term acute and longer-term environmental exposure collated by month 12. T4.6 Report on potential ecotoxicological effects: specific data on Gas Abate N+ was generated. Physicochemical data (T4.2) determines into which environmental compartments the chemicals will partition. Literature and data were used to assess toxicity using the approved read-across methodology. On the basis of all available data, ecotoxicity was classified for each end point. This data was inputted to D6.1: EPQ-Requirement No. 1 submitted to the EC on 31 July 2021.

The Deliverables and Milestones achieved in Months 1-12/year 1 of GasAbate N+ include:
M1: Develop and operate project website and social media.
M2: 1 tonne batch of product manufactured meeting standards of efficacy and shelf-life.
M5: GasAbate N+ product launch plan

D2.1: Large-scale manufacturing platform for GasAbate N+
D6.1: EPQ - Requirements No. 1

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GasAbate N+, clearly moves the field beyond the state of the art - no existing product or mix of products/methods can come close to its performance, efficiency, economic and environmental benefits. Agriculture is of prime importance accounting for 7.4% of EU exports at a value of ~€30Bn (2017). Should agricultural production leave the EU to meet climate change targets this will have a negative impact. GasAbate N+ presents a solution to allow for increased agricultural production and employment without a rise in emissions or carbon leakage. In doing so, it acts to support EU rural communities, maximising fertiliser value of manures and agri-residues to help promote food security, supporting a sustainable increase in global agricultural productivity to feed a growing human population.

Infographic of GasAbate Project