Klaas de Boer from Opperdoes has been working with the answer to the nitrogen problem since 2019; his machine filters ammonia from the air. Several parties, representatives of provinces and Provincial Councils have already visited, but he has heard nothing more about this. Of demonstrable measuring results of a working machine in stables, he still has one question; what is it then?
Now the cabinet with the today published nitrogen plans puts a knife in the agricultural sector, Klaas de Boer can no longer ignore it. “If they don’t want the farmers because of the nitrogen emissions, and we have the system, the solution. Then you know there’s more to it. We want recognition that the thing works,” he says, with today’s announcements still fresh in mind. .
For three years
Because that’s exactly where De Boer is. “We have been working on it for three years. The Remkes report shows how it should be done. With the machine we show that the installation works for the full 100 percent.” The prototype is currently running on a large farm: in barn 1, where the machine is located, the results are compared with barn 6, where the calves are in ‘normal, old’ conditions.
In both barns – barn 1 and barn 6 – there are 160 calves with the same feed. In the first barn, the test barn, the ‘nitrogen machine’ runs, because only one is needed. In barn 6 only measurements are taken. “Compared to barn 6, the living climate is 80 percent better than in the old barn without its filter installation, where the calves live. This is due to the ammonia discharge, which we convert in an expert manner.”
The results of the measurements in the various barns are analyzed by a laboratory in Germany. “It is demonstrable via the laboratory that we recover large numbers of liters of ammonia,” says De Boer.
Effects
According to De Boer, the fact that the government wants to reduce the number of farmers in the province is an idea, the consequences of which are not well understood. “If the government wants to cut back for those farmers, 50 percent. A lot of industries are attached to that. That will be a food crisis. It will only get worse, I can guarantee you that.”
According to him, the problem of CO2 emissions would therefore only shift. “We then have to bring all kinds of foodstuffs to the Netherlands from abroad, those products have to be shipped again, then you get the CO2 here, don’t you? Or am I seeing that wrong?”
‘I dare it’
The installation to purify ammonia would therefore be the solution, De Boer believes. The installations have already been used at various farmers for trial runs. “In waste incineration, chicken farmers, calf fattening, fermentation companies. If I may say so, they all graduated cum laude.”
But he emphasizes: “There are customers who say it’s OK, it works, but it has not been inspected. They then have to apply for a test shed application, which is possible, but it costs a lot of money. The government also wants you to apply for a label for each animal species. In addition, it contains residue substances that can be used as a fertilizer substitute or as a fuel cell.”
For De Boer, the government’s decision raises many questions. But there is no lack of opportunism: “We hope for that recognition, that we get that approval. Our goal is to improve the machine in such a way that it cleans 100 percent. We will only keep it at 99 percent for now, but I dare okay.”