The large population of chickens in N&N Agriculture results in a substantial quantity of chicken waste daily. N&N has invested in an integrated waste-management initiative to recycle chicken waste through a process of anaerobic digestion to produce electricity to power some parts of the farm’s operations. The by-product of anaerobic digestion is sludge and contaminated waste water.

To facilitate environmentally-friendly and sustainable farming, N&N Agriculture recently collaborated with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the National University of Singapore (NUS) in a final year research project on waste management. The project aimed to treat highly contaminated sludge utilising an innovative technique of electrochemistry as an alternative to traditional methods of biological, chemical and mechanical treatment. The collaborative project proved the viability of a new technology utilising electrochemistry to successfully reduce the pollutants in the waste water / sludge from the anaerobic digester by upto 98%, a level that satisfies PUB discharge standards for discharge into public water way. Clean water recovered from the sludge can be reused to conserve resources and facilitate environmental friendliness.

The exciting findings from the joint research project effectuated a shift in the current waste management paradigm. N&N Agriculture and NUS will explore further collaboration to engineer the new technology for viable deployment in N&N Agriculture as an enhancement to our waste management initiative.