5 More Ways to Invest in Brazil Right Now

Earlier this year, Brazilian incumbent Dhilma Rousseff won re-election as president of the country boasting Latin America's largest economy. At the time we asked, "Is It Time to Invest in Brazil?"

The thesis was simple enough. Despite a halt to the double-digit growth seen before the financial crisis, Brazil is still home to a near 100 million-person-strong middle class. It is governed by a mature democracy. It is absolutely loaded with natural resources. Taking a long-term view, the future looks quite bright for this sleeping giant.

Investing in foreign markets isn't always easy
The challenge for investors here in the U.S. is finding an appropriate vehicle for investing in the Brazil markets. In the previous post, we mentioned Petrobras, Brazil's massive, state controlled oil company, the home building company Gafisa S.A., and the largest diversified ETF, the Shares MSCI Brazil Index Fund.

EFB Fiber Crushing Machine for EFB Fiber Processing

Turning palm oil mill waste into organic fertilizer, Utilizing Palm Oil Organic Waste

New fisheries firm expected to set up fish feeds factory in Kigali

The Government has leased management and operationalisation of Urban Fisheries Products Promotion Centre, a move officials say will ensure proper handling of fish produce, market access and, most importantly, address the issue of lack of enough nutritious fish feeds, which has been a major concern for the sector.

Under the 10-year lease deal, AQUAHORT Export Ltd/AEL, will be expected to put in place a fish feed factory with capacity to produce five tonnes of fish feeds per day.

Large-scale compost operation riles neighbors in Northboro

NORTHBORO – A two-year-old ban on disposal of large amounts of commercial food waste from getting into the state’s solid waste stream may be producing some unintended consequences, but top state officials who may be able to resolve the problems are saying little to allay fears of farmers and homeowners affected by the ban.

Windrow composting

Windrow composting is a very well established technology for dealing with food & kitchen waste, agricultural & green wastes, and also Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). The material is shredded and then piled in elongated rows (windrows) and aerated through either turning of the windrows or by forcing air through the material. Windrow composting may take place in buildings or externally.

-Long, narrow piles agitated/turned regularly.
-Aeration by natural/passive air movement.
-Better suited to larger volumes.
-Composting time: 3 - 6 Months.

Mobile equipment is needed.
-Grinder/Shredder
-Tractor/FEL
-Windrow Turner
 ·tractor-pulled
 ·self-propelled compost turner
-Rotary Screener
Manual labor costs excessive without equipment.

Production of high-quality organic granulated fertilizer

Production of high-quality organic granulated fertilizer is a complex task as the process is subject to various factors: variety and quality of raw materials, composition and compatibility of material formulation, moisture content and its variation during the organic fertilizer granulation process, quality and degree of abrasion of the operating parts of the grinder and the granulator used, correct selection and setting of equipment operating modes, etc. This means that producers of organic granulated fertilizers need to take into account all the elements and stages of the technological process of granulation. In a competitive market, this cannot be overlooked or ignored. In the granulation process, there are several factors affecting the quality of the final (new) product. Some authors claim the quality of granulated product is mostly affected by the composition of granules (20 %), pressing quality 15 %, material shredding parameters up to 20 %, additional processing approximately 40 %, as well as the drying cooling process.

It is indisputable that part of soil fertility improvement is organic fertilizer. The main source of organic fertilizer remains livestock waste – cattle and poultry manure. Whereas scarcely used, when the price of mineral fertilizer increased and ecological problems appeared, a decrease of soil fertility and humus has been noticed. When applying conventional manure removal, preparation and application methods in addition to not using stricter environmental requirements can have a negative impact on the key components of the environment. This can be prevented by properly wasting, composting and granulating agricultural waste. The resultant product is humus compost, which presents no problems and no the difficulty of keeping it and has no unpleasant odor, pathogenic organisms or other fitotoxical materials, it also accelerates the metabolism of nutrients between the soil and plant roots of plants. 

Organic granular fertilizer improves the dynamics of microbiological processes in granules and around them which allows reducing the spread of nutrients in the soil and their transition to less agile forms, besides that it results in better circumstances for processes taking place between the fertilizer, soil and plant. Granular manure is a universal complex organic fertilizer containing all the macro and micro elements. Pelleted manure nutrient content for soil micro flora is optimal; moreover, it quickly dissolves in water and is easily absorbed by plants. Granular manure can be called concentrated fertilizer, because the recycling process reduces the volume of material more than 10 times, due to water removal and material thickening while extruding. Granulation – the set of natural and physical-mechanical processes, which take place during the formation of little pieces, which has a dimension of the ranges, forms, structures and physical properties. Granulation allows significant simplification of the storage, transport and dosage; moreover, it increases powdery while together eliminating dusting and improving the working conditions in the production sphere, besides that, it can regulate the granule structure and related properties. The granulation process efficiency depends on the method of granulation and technology. 

The consequence of all physical-mechanical processes that are taking place while pelleting is that granulated material density increases. In the manure pellets making process we can see all known physical-mechanical and physical-chemical bonds, accompanied by such forces as the capillary force and forces between the solid particles, temperature changes affecting the forces and so on. The granulation process itself depends on the feedstock grain size and physical-mechanical properties. (Temperature, moisture content, pH, etc.). The main parameter describing the performance of pelletizer and the energy cost required by material compaction is the granule formation speed. As the speed of granulation increases the granular material density and mechanical strength decrease. 

More Resources:
compound fertilizer granulation process
how to convert food waste into organic fertilizer
 

Application & Working Process of Organic Fertilizer Machine

Organic fertilizer (biological) granulator is in round configuration to make cylindrical particles a rolling ball, no return, high rate of ball granule, good strength, beautiful and applicable, and hence the machine becomes the ideal equipment of globular particles in organic fertilizer (biological). India is a large agricultural nation, there is lots of organic fertilizer, and many villagers do not know how the rational use of fertilizers, resulting in a lot of waste. So the demand for granulators is big.
We are all know the modern organic fertilizer is produced by organic fertilizer equipment, the organic fertilizer production has been mechanized, large-scale, integrated processing, below we went into the production process of organic fertilizer equipment.
The way of traditional organic fertilizer pelletizing is mainly through the disc for molding. Disc Pelletizer through high speed revolves result the raw materials rolling in balls. On the process of the molding, you need add some water to increase the rate of shaping. So the organic fertilizer pellets would be a little more loose, not hard, easy to broken and out of shape,

This would bring some unnecessary risks on product organic fertilizer.
The production of organic fertilizer according to the organic fertilizer functional effects decision, workers then first a variety of raw materials required pulverized into a certain degree of fineness of organic materials, in accordance with Formulation in a blender Hunban, in this process, the key step is proportion to add a 'bio-fermentation agents, Hunban into the fermentation tank, so the area is very small, deep pool aerobic fermentation, the fermentation process without manual saves fermentation costs due to full mechanization production, fermentation so evenly, no dead ends, from the process to ensure product quality organic fertilizer. After one night, the raw material input temperature soon rose up, up to 70 degrees, this time, the staff start turning throwing equipment, at the same time open the blast equipment, to be turned toss after the end of the pond is already fermented finished, new raw materials into the fermentation tank, and so the cycle.
Organic fertilizer granulator equipment to show the production process, to understand and know how it carried out the production of organic fertilizer, it helps to fully play its fertilising application of organic manure.

Why Go Organic?

Conventional methods of growing crops can produce up to 25 percent more food than organic methods for cash crops such as wheat and corn. Why then would anyone want to use organic fertilizer? Organic fertilizer consists of natural materials from the remains of a once-living organism or the by-products of an organism. Organic fertilizers provide a steady release of nutrients for a very long time.
Also, almost any organic material can be used as a fertilizer, though the effectiveness of each will vary considerably. Unlike inorganic fertilizers, living organisms eat organic matter in natural fertilizers, which helps break down nutrients for plants to consume. They also allow the soil to better hold moisture while promoting proper drainage. While chemical fertilizers can sometimes not work on dead soil, organic fertilizers help build nutrients that naturally replenish the soil, and healthier soil leads to greater nutrition.
Soil that is fertilized with inorganic materials will eventually die as commercial fertilizers contain only enough nutrients to keep the plants growing. As the soil begins to die, it is necessary to add even more fertilizer to maintain the same nutrient levels to preserve the plants.
A study published in the May 2002 edition of Science revealed that using organic fertilizer can cut down on the amount of fertilizer needed by 34 to 53 percent, while reducing the need for pesticide use up to 97 percent.
Commercial fertilizers are also filled with toxic chemicals that leak into the water supply. They can poison local wildlife, kill surrounding soil, and endanger the safety of those who live nearby. In fact, the National Institutes of Health published a warning on plant fertilizer poisoning due to high levels of nitrates.
You can become infected not only by accidentally consuming them, but also by regularly coming into contact with conventional fertilizers. If you are a farmer or like to spend time in your food garden, this could be a health and safety concern for you and your family.
If you touch conventional fertilizer, you may experience burning skin. If you consumed it by accident, you may experience an upset stomach, pain in your abdomen, dizziness or shortness of breath. Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, may sometimes smell putrid, but they replenish soil, feed small organisms, and are safe to use.

More Resources:
1. Organic Fertilizer Manufacturing Process
2. Small Scale Organic Fertilizer Plant Layout
3. Organic Fertilizer Production Line

History of Commercial Compost

Composting is an ancient art, as old as seed gathering and cave painting. Clay tablets from Mesopotamia dating back 1,000 years before Moses discuss the composting process. Composting was popular with the Greeks and Romans and was common farming practice in Europe and America before the chemical revolution of the 19th century. Beginning in 1905, the English agronomist Sir Albert Howard spent 30 years developing composting techniques in India, ideas which were then embraced by home gardeners in America thanks to the efforts of Organic Gardening editor J.J. Rodale and others.

Take your yard clippings for a spin! The Tumbleweed Compost Tumbler is a simple way to quickly turn yard and food waste into a homegrown soil amendment, quickly and cleanly. Drop the materials in, turn them a few times per week, and in months — not years — you’ll have gallons of nutrient-dense organic matter to offer your plants.

The first compost transaction — its transfer from party to party for trade or profit — is lost to history. The commercial sale of compost probably dates back to when some enterprising farmer began trading the fermented remains of his silage pile to a neighboring gardener for grain or produce. Colonial farmers of New England made a practice of throwing the surplus fish catch into piles of barnyard muck and it’s easy to think that some of the potent results were traded among growers who weren’t such able fisherman. Private, usually local commercial composting began on a small scale during the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s (commercial humus, potting soils and such products as fish fertilizer have been around for decades). This practice grew as corporate farm operations, livestock growers, the timber industry and other businesses realized there was profit to be made from the waste of their activities.

As in Los Angeles, municipal compost operations started as an answer to rapidly filling landfill sites. Since leaves and yard wastes comprise such a large percentage of landfill volume, as much as 30 per cent depending on the season, many cities began to see the value of composting their green waste and recycling (Los Angeles reached 50 percent by including food, paper products and other soluble wastes).

The city of Davis, California has had such a program since 1972. Wellesley, Massachusetts began composting its leaves in the early 1970s after its community incinerator was closed for failing to meet air emission standards. At first, leaves were just piled and stored, but then the city began turning the huge piles and making finished compost and using it locally. Sales boomed. In the late ’80s, the town began collecting debris from landscapers and other commercial operations in an effort to triple their compost production. Other states began to see the win-win value of composting and passed laws to keep yard wastes out of landfills. Incentives were granted for backyard composting programs, subsidies were given to homeowners who purchased compost bins and cities were awarded funds for trucks that would vacuum up leaves.

Market Potential and Grape Pomace Composting

As previously noted, the market potential determinations for both red grape skins and grape seed oil were based on 100% utilization. These market potentials decrease when a large portion of the produced grape pomace is used to create compost which is then recycled back into the vineyard. Composting is based on aerobic microbial decomposition. Organic compounds are broken down (decomposed) into natural elements such as carbon and nitrogen. This is a very simplified version of the composting process as a multitude of factors are involved in composting biology and chemistry. For optimal composting, the material being composted must have a high moisture content and contain a sufficient carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio. The high C:N provides nutrients for the microbes to survive and continue degradation. A study in 2001 provided the chemical characterization of fresh grape pomace, which is displayed in Table 15. The chemical composition after composting is also displayed in Table 15, providing a before and after comparison of grape pomace composting.

The optimal initial C:N of a compost is between 25:1 and 35:1. As shown in Table 16, the C:N of grape pomace is approximately 27:1, therefore it qualifies as an optimal substrate for composting. After composting, the nitrogen content increased to 2.35 (wt%). This is beneficial as nitrogen content in soil is influential in  determining vineyard growth. The theoretical average amount of nitrogen needed for a vineyard is 55 kg N/ha. This is equivalent to 22.267 kg N/acre (1 ha = 2.47 acres). As stated, the market potential of grape pomace as a suitable supplement decreases as increased pomace is utilized as compost. Although composting grape pomace increases the nitrogen content, using composted grape pomace alone to supply vineyards with nitrogen is neither feasible nor economical. To validate 1) due to the significant amount of composted grape pomace needed to supply 22.267 kg N/acre and 2) the other nutrients needed for vineyard growth, i.e., phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, are not adequately supplied by grape pomace compost. 

Palm Oil Waste Composting System

Our EFB composting system offers an effective solution to the oil palm industry's problem of waste disposal. The palm oil waste composting system utilizes 100% POME and EFB and uses a technically advanced method of converting waste matters into compost. Part of the process involve EFB shredding using a high speed hammer mill and then stacked into windrows of 1.5 meter high by 45 meter length in an open field. POME with BOD levels less than 10,000 ppm is then pumped from the pond and sprayed onto these windrows at a specified rate at 3 days intervals. The windrows are turned regularly using a windrow turner for better mixing and aeration. Composting accelerates are sprayed once at the start of the process to accelerate the composting process. Throughout the composting process, the windrows are covered by an air-permeable covering to avoid drenching by heavy rain and to prevent leaching of nutrients. The covering is crucial for the control of temperature and moisture content, two key factors that affect the speed of composting and quality if the end product. The compost is mature after 70 days and is ready for use. The compost, when used in sufficient quantity, is capable of replacing 66% of chemical fertilizers.

Fish Waste Composting Technology and Composting Machines

Fish Waste Composting Technology and Composting Machines

Windrow Composting Technology, Windrow Composting Process

In the middle of farms and fields, south of Bakersfield CA, in the small town of Lamont CA is one of the largest composting facilities in the United States. Driving from downtown LA, it took me 2.5 hours to make it out to the facility. Just like the surrounding farms, this facility has rows and rows of crops – except this crop is compost. Specifically, windrow composting – where heaps of organic waste, organized into rows, sits for 4 months as it slowly turns into compost. Windrow composting involves a few major steps: Collection, Feedstock Preparation, Windrow Processing and, Screening.

Collection: Before material even makes it to Lamont, it must be collected. It sounds simple but complexities exist. Material originates not only from the bin placed out at the curb in residential neighborhoods but from several different sources and even that bin can be complex. Some residential bins collect yard waste only while some collect yard waste & food scraps. The composition or profile of the waste varies differently when food scraps are added and changes depending on neighborhood. Additionally, most of the waste comes from commercial and farm sources – again with its own profile. All these sources arrive at the Lamont facility via different pathways. Residential and some commercial material is received at Recology’s Sun Valley MRF. Other commercial and farm wastes arrive directly at the Lamont facility from various sources (other MRFs, farmers truck it in themselves, etc.)

Early morning collection in East Los Angeles

Feedstock Preparation: Successful composting starts with the Carbon to Nitrogen (C:N ratio) of the feedstock. Yard trimmings have a high ratio and food waste has a low ratio. Mixing brings the ratio within the ideal C:N ratio of 20-40:1. The Sun Valley MRF mixes the collected feedstock to be composted at Lamont. see more information on COMPOSTABLE MATERIALS AROUND US

Windrow Processing: The Lamont facility is the largest permitted composting facility west of the Mississippi. Every day, 150 tractor-trailers unload tons of organics. The logistics behind such a large scale operation can seem harrowing but the standard in large scale composting is to form windrows – long rows of material dumped out of the back of the tractor trailer and left in the field. Composting starts where the materials lies!

Several truckloads make a completed windrow which can be a couple hundred feet long. Once unloaded, the material must be covered with dirt to contain any gasses. And the windrow must be watered – with an ideal moisture content between 40-60%. The Lamont facility uses gray, filtered but untreated water from the Lamont wastewater plant. In addition to adding moisture, the water serves to further reduce the C:N ratio.

Initially, the row is a lumpy mess but the material must be turned to aerate the material. Aeration occurs every 3 days during the first 15 days, with a reduction in frequency after the first 15 days. To aerate, a giant windrow turner straddles a row and churns the material as it drives over the row. As the turner passes, the row is processed into a neat pile.

The entire composting process takes about 120 days. Throughout the process, the temperature is measured o ensure pathogens are destroyed and the compost is safe to use. Temperature is also a key insight into how the composting process is performing.
With windrow composting, the long processing time of 120 days requires large amounts of land. In vessel composting is a popular alternative in space constrained areas as it requires less space and completes the process in a shorter amount of time with greater control of environment for more precise conditions for composting.

Screening: At the end, most of the material will have processed into very small particles. But, plastic bags, nails, large pieces of wood which didn’t fully decompose will have to be removed. Material is loaded into a hopper which screens out particles larger than about 4 inches. Then the material is moved through a large rotating cylindrical tube with many holes on an incline – called a trommel screen. Properly sized material slips through the holes while oversized material continues to travel up the trommel, ending in the overs bin. The overs are sent to landfill. Prime material undergoes further screening: a magnet is passed over the material to capture ferrous metals (mostly nails left in trees) and a stream of air is passed through the material and into a vacuum to capture any plastic film material. Prime compost is sold to surround area farms.

Screening at Blossom Valley (trommel screen is seen in bottom center of the equipment)

I initially thought compost was equivalent to dirt but the classification is different. Compost is a soil amendment and is able to provide nutrients and microbes which have been depleted during traditional farming techniques. It also absorbs and retains much more liquid than just soil alone. This is great for drought stricken areas like the Central Valley, where the facility is located. The tour gave me a much greater appreciation of what is involved in processing our organics. The system is much more complex than people initially assume.

Application & Working Process of Organic Fertilizer Machine

Organic fertilizer granulator is in round configuration to make cylindrical particles a rolling ball, no return, high rate of ball granule, good strength, beautiful and applicable, and hence the machine becomes the ideal equipment of globular particles in organic fertilizer (biological). India is a large agricultural nation, there is lots of organic fertilizer, and many villagers do not know how the rational use of fertilizers, resulting in a lot of waste. So the demand for granulators is big.

We are all know the modern organic fertilizer is produced by organic fertilizer equipment, the organic fertilizer production has been mechanized, large-scale, integrated processing, below we went into the production process of organic fertilizer equipment.

The way of traditional organic fertilizer pelletizing is mainly through the disc for molding. Disc Pelletizer through high speed revolves result the raw materials rolling in balls. On the process of the molding, you need add some water to increase the rate of shaping. So the organic fertilizer pellets would be a little more loose, not hard, easy to broken and out of shape,

This would bring some unnecessary risks on product organic fertilizer.

The organic fertilizer production according to the organic fertilizer functional effects decision, workers then first a variety of raw materials required pulverized into a certain degree of fineness of organic materials, in accordance with Formulation in a blender Hunban, in this process, the key step is proportion to add a 'bio-fermentation agents, Hunban into the fermentation tank, so the area is very small, deep pool aerobic fermentation, the fermentation process without manual saves fermentation costs due to full mechanization production, fermentation so evenly, no dead ends, from the process to ensure product quality organic fertilizer. After one night, the raw material input temperature soon rose up, up to 70 degrees, this time, the staff start turning throwing equipment, at the same time open the blast equipment, to be turned toss after the end of the pond is already fermented finished, new raw materials into the fermentation tank, and so the cycle.

Organic fertilizer granulator equipment to show the production process, to understand and know how it carried out the production of organic fertilizer, it helps to fully play its fertilising application of organic manure.

Cow Dung, Chicken Manure Dewatering Machine for Sale

Dewatering screw press machine used to reduce the water content of animal dung, acid-sludge, medicine dregs, kitchen rubbish, and many other dregs.
The solid content in the raw material can be 30-40%, and the moisture of final product is about 40%, you can’t press out any water by hands.

Description of Manure Dewatering Machine
1.The development of modern livestock farming, the rise of intensification and factory farming industry has enriched people's material needs. However,
it also brought the flooding of livestock sewage which caused the water, air and environment pollution.
2.This animal manure solid liquid separator will separate the original livestock manure to liquid and solid organic fertilizer:
the liquid organic fertilizer can be directly used for crops; the solid organic fertilizer can be shipped to regions that lack of fertilizer to improve the soil structure.
 What's more, after fermentation, the solid organic fertilizer can be made into organic compound fertilizer.

Working Principle of solid-liquid dewatering machine:
1.When the cow manure dewater machine is working, the dung slurry pump will pump the animal manure into the main body of the cow manure dewater machine.
2.In the body of the cow manure dewater machine, there are a screw and screen. As the cow manure enter into the cow manure dewater machine, the screw will pull the manure from the left to the right at the speed of 45 r/min.
3.When cow manure are transported the right of cow manure dewater machine, the screen will continuous press the manure to dewater the manure.
4.The manure is dewatered and discharged by the cow manure dewater machine.
5.The dewatered water from the liquid discharge pipe into the water discharge pool.

Application Scope:
1.Animal wastes, such as pig manure, cow dung, poultry dung, horse excrement and other kinds of animal manure;
2.Biogas slurry, sludge gas and biogas fermentative residue;
3.Manioc waste, tea slag, sweet potato waste, maize pulp, bagasse, medicine dregs, wpp d pulp fiber, paper pulp fiber, bean dregs, coffee grounds and so on;
4.Any kinds of solid liquid separation.

Treatment of Animal Manure for Solid Liquid Sepation-Cow dung, Chicken M...

Treatment of Animal Manure for Solid Liquid Sepation-Cow dung, Chicken M...