The purpose built energy centre is divided into 2 zones.
Red Zone: Manure Storage Area
- Transport manure from houses within hours of depopulation
- After filling, all handling is automated so farm staff do not enter Zone
- Air from Zone is treated at 850 °C for 2 seconds
- Area is kept under negative pressure to prevent leaks of odours or pathogens
Blue Zone: Plant Area
- Plant entry limited to trained personnel
- Separate changing facilities and overalls for Zones
- Continuous control of combustion to meet stringent emissions standards
Biosecurity processes within the energy centre such as pest control are carried out by trained personnel. Foot dips and normal biosecurity measures must be followed.
Stephen Lister, poultry veterinarian with Crowshall Veterinary Services in East Anglia reacted favourably to news of the 2014 legislation:
“This is exciting news for farmers in our industry as this provision should allow them to produce more sustainability and economically, and from an animal health perspective should be a considerable biosecurity benefit to UK Poultry generally to reduce the amount of poultry litter in the environment.”
If electricity is generated then the storage area is sized to contain all the manure from the previous flock which is then processed through the energy centre. Since no manure leaves the site to be spread on land the risk of spreading pathogens between sites is reduced. The removal of land spreading removes the risk of surface water pollution and the contamination of cattle with botulism.