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Ammonia Distribution Map
Background Ammonia concentrations across the UK

Nutrient Recovery & Waste Management

The Pentagon solution for Nutrient Recovery & Waste Management is the Vapogant. This German engineered product was specifically designed by Biogastechnik Sud for energy efficient slurry and digestive reduction with ammonia recovery.

The Vapogant works in concert with waste management technologies and anaerobic digestion facilities and will process your waste liquids into a high-concentration fertiliser.

The genius of the Vapogant is how it facilitates both cost reductions and revenue generation, while also aiding statutory body compliances; by significantly reducing the ammonium and nitrate emissions as well as the land areas required for spreading.

Benefits at a Glance:

  • Removes water from the process to reduce volume
  • Extracts the nutrients – for fertiliser use on site, or onward sale
  • Reduces operating and capital costs – storage, handling & land use
  • Reduces enviromental impact and has been accepted by statutory bodies as an appropriate mitigation measure to ensure compliance with licenses and permits
  • Increases revenue – sales and savings
  • Maximises use of energy and heat

Watch the first Vapogant installation in the UK and NI.

Breaking down the Nutrients:

Vapogant Digestate

The corresponding image shows the components of the nutrients as they pass through the process and the corresponding volume reductions:



  1. Waste liquid: slurry, digestate, dirty water.
  2. Solid material extracted through separation.
  3. The water removed from the waste.
  4. Concentrated nutrient rich liquid fraction.
  5. Ammonium sulphate solution.


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Product Summary

Vapogant
  • A modular product that reduces your ammonia emissions
  • The Vapogant evaporates water and concentrates liquid up to 70%
  • It extracts the nutrients into ammonia sulphate - for fertiliser use
  • It reduces your costs, storage, handling, land use etc.
  • The Vapogant provides significant Enviromental benefits to satisfy Environment Agency, Council and DERA etc.

Environmental Impact:

Pentagon provides solutions to reduce the environmental impact associated with intensive farming practices. Including the processing of slurries from cattle, pigs and chickens, biomass from anaerobic digestion and other waste liquids.

Environmental Threats:

Environmental & Planning Policies on ammonia levels are being driven by regional and national legislation which is impacting on planned agricultural development throughout the UK and Ireland.

Most of Northern Ireland is currently in excess of acceptable ammonia levels and the NIEA and Shared Environmental Services are requiring reduction and mitigation measures in line with their policies for complying with the Habitats Directive.

This will have a direct impact on all existing and planned agri-bussinesses as they apply for grants or submit applications to meet planning or licensing requirement.

Implementation of Policy:

The NIEA are developing and implementing policies to ensure that farming and waste treatment enterprises are compliant with the Habitats Directives.

This directive is specifically aimed at reducing ammonia emissions within the agricultural economy and reducing the impact on our habitats.

Impact on Development:

Developers of intensive agriculture, anaerobic digestors, or other ammonia emitting sites are required to show that their development will not have a detrimental effect on the ecology of any designated habitats.

These policies and requirements apply to Planning Applications, Waste Management Licensing and the PPC permitting regimes.

Solutions:

The Vapogant was developed to address similar issues in Europe. Data from the Vapogant has demonstrated it’s effectiveness in addressing areas of particular interest to the NIEA & EA - specifically:

  • Reducing the volume of waste materials and the quantium to be spread on land by 70%.
  • The ammonia that is lost to the air during normal land spreading is captured in the form of an ammonium sulphate solution and is removed from the cycle.

Additional Product & Financial Benefits

The Vapogant has been shown by independent testing to remove more than 90% of the ammonia from the cycle; this reduction can be applied to the digestate from an AD, cattle/pig slurry as well as chicken litter.


Reduces Storage & Transportation

  • Thickened liquid saves volume - up to 70%
  • Save storage and associated investment costs
  • Reduced volume means fewer movements to/on land
  • Less impact on road and population
  • Weather risks are reduced

Nutrient Management

  • Upgrading slurry / digestate to ammonium sulphate solution
  • Less nitrogen loss through ammonia emissions
  • Improved nutrient management

Financial Benefits & Costs

(Per Year per Vapogant)

  • Cost saving from handling waste (circa 100K)
  • Additional revenues from fertiliser sales (circa 100K)
  • Operating costs <£50K
  • Capital Costs circa £700K
  • Circa 5 year RoI

About Pentagon

Pentagon Nutrient Recovery Systems provides environmental solutions to the agri-food, waste and energy sectors in the UK and Ireland. How these industries deal with ever more intensive practices and need for scale and efficiencies is becoming a big challenge for them and the environment. Continuous research to find the best technology and practices to handle waste and by-products is our primary objective; and providing those solutions to our customers is our primary deliverable.

Pentagon NRS research has lead to a partnership with leading German engineering company Biogas Technik Sud to supply their Vapogant product to the UK and Ireland market. This product provides for a transformative change in the extraction of nutrients from ammonia rich material in agri-food, waste and energy businesses, whilst providing the environmental protection demanded by government, public and private organisations, and the citizen consumer.

Pentagon NRS have developed a product delivery team of engineering, planning and consultative partners. Crowley Engineering provide the strength to install, commission and maintain our solutions from their 40 years in manufacturing products for global markets. Envirofarm ensure project planning best practice in the UK and Ireland. Victus provides advisory and professional consultancy services to Pentagon NRS customers.

Further Pentagon NRS products are under research and development for future launch. Please click here to be added to our communication database.

Our Partners

Victus Biogastechnik Crowley Engineering ENVIRO FARM LTD