Pig Manure Organic Powder Fertilizer Plant in Vietnam

RICHI MACHINERY

Why Pig Manure? 

Vietnam has one of Southeast Asia’s largest pig industries. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment reported that the national pig herd exceeded 30 million head in mid-2025. In the Red River Delta, intensive pig farms create a concentrated manure stream that is expensive to manage if it remains wet, odorous and difficult to transport.

The commercial opportunity is not based on treating every tonne of manure as fertilizer. Raw manure contains too much water and can carry pathogens, odor and unstable nutrients. The plant adds value by dewatering, combining manure with a carbon-rich bulking material, managing aerobic composting and releasing a more stable product with declared quality parameters.

Customer Segment	Why Powder Organic Fertilizer Fits	Sales Approach
Rice farms	Adds organic matter alongside conventional nutrient programs	Regional dealer and cooperative sales
Vegetable farms	Useful where soil structure and organic matter are important	Bagged product with batch quality data
Fruit orchards	Suitable for base fertilization and soil improvement	Seasonal contracted deliveries
Nursery / horticulture users	Needs consistent mature compost rather than raw manure	Smaller bags and formulation-specific supply
Fertilizer blenders	Can use mature powder as an organic component	Bulk or FIBC supply

The product is sold as an organic powder fertilizer unless the final formulation and post-fermentation inoculation are specifically registered as a microbial-organic fertilizer. Adding a microbial starter before a thermophilic composting cycle does not automatically guarantee that the finished product contains the viable microorganism count required for a microbial fertilizer claim.

The project therefore focuses first on safe manure stabilization, organic-matter value and regulatory compliance. Sales growth depends on laboratory quality, crop response and distributor relationships rather than a claimed 20% annual market growth rate or a fixed discount against imported fertilizer.

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Raw Materials: Pig Manure, Straw, and Microbial Starter

The raw-material recipe is built around dewatered pig manure and rice straw, both readily available in northern Vietnam. Wheat straw is not treated as a major local input. The purchasing team controls moisture and contamination because the composting capacity is determined by water and dry-matter balance, not only by wet tonnage.

Raw Material	Approx. Annual Intake	Typical Moisture	Function
Dewatered pig manure	42,000 T/A	About 58–62%	Main nutrient and organic-matter source
Chopped rice straw	12,000 T/A	About 12–18%	Carbon source, structure and aeration
Microbial starter	Approx. 60–100 T/A	Product-specific	Supports composting where used
Gross input	Approx. 54,000 T/A	Recipe-weighted	Supports about 30,000 T/A mature powder fertilizer

The mass balance is intentionally lower than the wet input. About 27,000 tons of dry matter enter with the manure and straw. During active composting, part of the carbon is biologically converted to carbon dioxide and water, while additional moisture is removed by aeration and turning. Roughly 21,000–22,000 tons of dry matter remain in the finished product; at about 25–30% final moisture, this supports approximately 30,000 T/A of saleable fertilizer.

• Pig manure must be mechanically dewatered before delivery; raw slurry is not accepted into the solid-compost line.
• Rice straw is chopped to roughly 20–50 mm so it mixes uniformly and maintains porosity.
• Plastic, veterinary sharps, feed sacks, metal and stones are removed before batching.
• Very wet manure loads are blended only when the available dry straw can keep the starting compost moisture near the process target.
• Leachate collected from the wet end is reused only after storage and process control; it is not added automatically to batches that are already too wet.

A practical starting mixture is adjusted to about 55–60% moisture and a workable carbon-to-nitrogen balance. The exact manure-to-straw ratio changes with manure solids, bedding carryover and straw moisture, so the plant uses measured moisture and bulk density rather than one fixed recipe for every truckload.

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The Site and Building

The plant is arranged on an approximately 10,000 m² site in the former Thai Binh area of today’s Hung Yen Province. Covered space is about 6,500 m². The remainder is used for truck circulation, fire access, odor-control equipment, utility areas and short-term vehicle staging.

Zone	Approx. Area	Main Use
Enclosed active-compost hall	3,200 m²	Ten aerated/turned compost lanes with leachate collection
Maturation / curing area	1,000 m²	Cooling, stabilization and moisture reduction after active composting
Raw-material receiving / preparation	800 m²	Dewatered manure, chopped straw, loader and batching
Final crushing / packing	600 m²	Powder finishing and automatic bagging
Finished-product warehouse	600 m²	Several days of bagged/FIBC inventory
Office / lab / maintenance / electrical	300 m²	QC, administration, spares and electrical equipment

The active-compost hall uses multiple parallel lanes rather than four small bays. The lanes provide enough working volume for roughly 180 tons of incoming material per production day with staggered loading, turning and discharge. This is what allows the fermentation section to match a 30,000 T/A finished-product target.

Each lane has an impermeable concrete floor, drainage toward a controlled leachate collection system and access for a lane or straddle-type compost turner. High-odor receiving and active-compost areas are enclosed and connected to forced ventilation and a biofilter.

Finished goods are not stored for months. The warehouse holds short dispatch inventory, while seasonal rice straw can be contracted with outside farm or supplier storage instead of occupying most of the factory site.

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Equipment Configuration 

The plant is a powder-fertilizer project, so there is no pellet mill, granulator or fertilizer dryer. Equipment is concentrated on manure handling, recipe control, compost aeration/turning, final powder preparation, odor control and packaging.

Section	Main Equipment	Project Configuration
Receiving	Front-end loader + receiving bunker	Handles dewatered manure and chopped straw
Batching	2–3 bin weighing/batching system	Controls manure/straw and additives
Pre-mixing	Twin-shaft mixer	Approx. 12–15 T/H prepared-mixture duty
Wet-lump conditioning	Vertical chain / wet-material crusher	Used only where large lumps interfere with uniform mixing
Active composting	Lane compost turner + forced-aeration system	Ten staggered compost lanes
Odor control	Extraction fans + biofilter	Receiving and active-compost hall
Leachate management	Drainage + approx. 60–80 m³ covered collection tank	Controlled reuse / off-spec batch management
Final powder crushing	Chain crusher	10–15 T/H mature-compost duty
Packing	Automatic bagging machine	25 kg, 50 kg and FIBC options
Conveying	Belt / screw conveyors	Low-speed handling of mature compost
Controls	PLC / MCC	Batching, aeration, alarms and bagging interlocks

The fixed RICHI equipment package is USD 328,000. The complete USD 1.18 million project investment also covers the simple steel/brick buildings, impermeable compost floors, drainage, biofilter civil works, electrical connection, installation, commissioning, laboratory setup and initial working capital.

The line avoids unnecessary duplication. One properly sized mixer, one wet-material crusher where required and one final chain crusher are more coherent than installing three parallel crushers and three parallel mixers for a 30,000 T/A powder plant.

Because the project produces powder fertilizer, the main process investment is in composting capacity and environmental control. Spending heavily on unused granulation, drying and cooling equipment would not improve this product.

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Process Flow 

This is a powder organic fertilizer production line based on aerobic composting. The process does not use granulation or a thermal fertilizer dryer. Moisture reduction is achieved through recipe control, aeration, turning and curing before final crushing and packing.

Step 1: Raw Material Receiving

Sealed or covered trucks deliver mechanically dewatered pig manure, while chopped rice straw arrives separately. Operators record source, moisture and visible contamination. Loads containing veterinary waste, plastic or excessive liquid are isolated before they enter the batching area.

Step 2: Batching and Mixing

The loader feeds manure and straw into the weighing system. The mixer combines the materials until moisture, structure and carbon-to-nitrogen balance are suitable for aerobic composting. Starting moisture is normally controlled around 55–60%, but the exact target is adjusted from actual material behavior.

Microbial starter can be added at this stage when the customer’s process requires it. If the finished fertilizer is intended to carry a viable-microorganism claim, a separate post-compost inoculation step is considered after the thermophilic phase rather than assuming all starter organisms survive high temperatures.

Step 3: Wet-Lump Conditioning

Only mixtures containing large manure lumps pass through the wet-material crusher. Chopped straw is not pulverized unnecessarily because some fiber structure is useful for porosity and oxygen movement through the compost mass.

Step 4: Active Aerobic Composting

The prepared mixture is loaded into one of ten staggered compost lanes. Forced aeration and mechanical turning keep the material aerobic while temperature rises naturally through microbial activity. Operators monitor temperature, oxygen condition, moisture and odor instead of following a fixed calendar regardless of the pile.

Active-Compost Parameter	Practical Control Range	Purpose
Starting moisture	About 55–60%	Supports microbial activity without waterlogging
High-temperature phase	Typically about 55–65°C	Pathogen reduction and rapid decomposition
Active phase	Usually about 15–20 days	Depends on temperature curve and oxygen
Turning	Temperature / oxygen dependent	Restores porosity and mixes wetter/drier zones
Leachate	Collected from wet-end drainage	Controlled reuse only when batch moisture allows

Step 5: Maturation and Curing

Material leaving the active lanes moves to the curing area for roughly 10–14 additional days. Temperature declines toward ambient, odor decreases and moisture continues to fall through aeration and turning. Total biological processing is therefore closer to 25–35 days than a fixed 20-day cycle.

Curing is complete only when the material is stable enough for the registered product specification and no longer reheats strongly after turning. The plant does not rely on warehouse-floor sun drying to correct immature or excessively wet compost.

Step 6: Final Powder Preparation

Mature compost passes through the chain crusher to break soft agglomerates and create a uniform powder. A formal high-capacity screener is not required for the standard product, but oversize foreign material is removed at receiving and any abnormal coarse fraction is reworked before packaging.

Step 7: Packaging

The finished powder moves directly to the automatic bagging system. Main formats are 25 kg and 50 kg bags, with FIBC available for distributors or fertilizer blenders. Local dust extraction at the filling point keeps the packing area cleaner and reduces product loss.

Batch coding links each finished lot to incoming manure suppliers, straw lots, compost-lane records and laboratory results.

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Utilities and Consumption

This is a low-temperature biological process, so electricity is used mainly for mixing, turning, forced aeration, final crushing, conveying, odor control and packaging. There is no large thermal dryer or granulator motor load.

Utility	Practical Annual Planning Range	Engineering Basis
Electricity	Approx. 650,000–850,000 kWh/year	Turner, aeration, biofilter fans, mixing, crushing, conveyors and packing
Electrical service	Approx. 400–500 kVA	Allows simultaneous wet-end, aeration and finishing operation
Fresh water	Approx. 1,200–1,800 m³/year	Domestic use, cleaning, biofilter humidification and limited process adjustment
Process-water reuse	Variable	Collected leachate reused only when batch moisture permits
Loader / forklift fuel	Approx. 8,000–12,000 L/year	Receiving, lane loading, curing and warehouse handling
Wastewater discharge	No routine process discharge in normal operation	Leachate remains in controlled collection/reuse system

The powder finishing line normally runs about one 8-hour shift for 300 days per year. Compost turning, aeration and odor control follow the biological process schedule and therefore continue outside the packaging shift when required.

A workforce of about 18–24 people is sufficient for the site, including loader/turner operators, finishing-line operators, packing, laboratory/QC, maintenance, warehouse, environmental monitoring and supervision. This is more proportionate than assigning 40 people to a highly duplicated equipment layout.

Electrical and water figures are tracked by the actual operating schedule. The plant does not present a cost table based on a contradictory 24-hour calculation while most equipment operates only part of the day.

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How RICHI Customized This Line for Pig Manure

The design is centered on wet-material behavior, odor and compost residence time rather than on fertilizer granulation. RICHI therefore puts more engineering effort into fermentation lanes, aeration, drainage and material handling than into downstream machines.

1. Dewatered pig manure is blended with rice straw to bring moisture and structure into the aerobic-composting window.
2. Ten staggered compost lanes provide the residence volume required for a 30,000 T/A finished-product target.
3. Forced aeration and mechanical turning reduce anaerobic zones and make odor control more manageable.
4. An impermeable floor and covered leachate system protect soil and groundwater while allowing controlled process reuse.
5. Only one appropriately sized wet-material crusher and one final chain crusher are used; unnecessary parallel machines are removed.
6. The final product remains powder, so granulation and thermal drying are omitted.

High-odor air from receiving and active composting is collected and routed through a biofilter. The ventilation design is based on the actual enclosed volume and air-exchange requirement rather than one fixed fan power for every project.

Wet-end steelwork and conveyors use corrosion-resistant coatings or stainless contact parts where justified. The plant also specifies wash-down access and drainage so manure does not remain trapped around bearings and structural steel.

Training covers moisture testing, recipe adjustment, pile temperature, aeration, turning decisions, leachate handling, crusher operation, biofilter inspection and laboratory sampling. Operators are trained to manage the biological process rather than merely follow a calendar.

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Product Specifications

The finished product is registered and released according to Vietnam’s current fertilizer-management framework. As of September 2026, QCVN 106:2025/BNNMT is the national technical regulation on fertilizer quality and has replaced QCVN 01-189:2019/BNNPTNT for new compliance work from 30 June 2026.

Property	Project Release Target	Control Method
Product form	Free-flowing powder	Visual / particle check
Moisture	Typically 25–30%	Oven or approved moisture method
Organic matter	Declared to meet the registered organic-fertilizer specification	Accredited laboratory test
pH	Product-specific registered range	Laboratory test
E. coli	Within current national fertilizer limits	Accredited laboratory test
Salmonella	Not detected where the applicable regulation requires it	Accredited laboratory test
Heavy metals	Within current national fertilizer limits	Periodic accredited laboratory test
Particle condition	Uniform crushed compost with no visible foreign matter	Process QC

TCVN 7185:2002 remains an active Vietnamese standard for microbial organic fertilizer, but it is not ‘TCVN 7185:2022.’ The plant does not use that standard as a blanket claim for every powder product. The exact category—organic fertilizer or microbial-organic fertilizer—must match the product registration and actual final composition.

If the customer wants to market a microbial-organic fertilizer, beneficial microorganisms are inoculated after the high-temperature composting stage and the final viable count is verified. A starter used only during composting is not enough to support the claim.

Fixed August 2025 selling prices and comparisons with imported Chinese or Japanese fertilizers are not used as technical specifications. Actual price depends on nutrient declaration, organic matter, packaging, season, distributor margin and transport distance.

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Market Outlook for Organic Fertilizer from Pig Manure in Vietnam

Vietnam’s pig sector gives manure-based fertilizer producers a large raw-material base. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment reported that the pig herd exceeded 30 million head in 2025. At the same time, fertilizer sold commercially in Vietnam is subject to product recognition, quality requirements and production conditions, so the market favors plants that can document both process control and finished-product quality.

The plant is located in the former Thai Binh area, which became part of the enlarged Hung Yen Province after the 2025 administrative reorganization. This keeps the factory close to the Red River Delta’s intensive crop and livestock economy while also providing reasonable access to Hai Phong logistics.

Commercial Challenge	Project Response
Pig manure is wet and odorous	Use dewatering specifications, rapid receiving and enclosed composting
Straw supply is seasonal	Contract chopped rice straw and use supplier-side storage
Farmers can buy cheaper raw manure	Sell a stabilized, tested, registered fertilizer product
Moisture varies by farm	Batch by measured moisture rather than truck weight alone
Quality claims require regulation compliance	Use batch records and accredited laboratory testing
Transport can erode low-value fertilizer margins	Focus first on northern regional markets and distributors

The business does not depend on a claimed 20% annual organic-fertilizer growth rate, a fixed list of 50–60 competitors or a guaranteed 15–20% operating margin. Expansion is tied to registered product demand, manure contracts, distributor performance and actual plant utilization.

Powder fertilizer also gives the client a lower-capital entry route than granulated fertilizer. If the market later requires granules, the customer can add screening, granulation, drying and cooling as a separate expansion rather than carrying that capital from startup.

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Why a Pig Manure Fertilizer Plant Makes Sense in Vietnam

The project makes sense because Vietnam combines intensive pig farming with major rice production, providing both manure and carbon-rich straw within the same agricultural economy. A 30,000 T/A finished-product plant is large enough to professionalize manure treatment but still small enough to source material regionally.

The 10–15 T/H finishing line matches the annual target when final crushing and packing run about one shift per day. The much slower composting stage is sized separately through lane volume and residence time, which prevents the common mistake of treating fermentation capacity as if it were only a crusher throughput number.

The 10,000 m² site is also more consistent with the project’s economics than a 20,000 m² estate dominated by oversized warehouses. Most space is allocated to active composting and curing—the functions that genuinely need area—while finished inventory and straw storage are kept short.

Current fertilizer regulation is stricter than simply meeting an old voluntary standard. Commercial fertilizer must comply with the applicable product-recognition and quality rules, including QCVN 106:2025/BNNMT and the current fertilizer-management framework under the Law on Crop Production and implementing regulations.

For another organic fertilizer production project, RICHI first checks manure moisture, daily supply, bulking material, compost method, odor-control requirement, finished-product registration category and available site area. These inputs determine the lane volume, turner size, aeration system, crusher and packing capacity.

For imported equipment, Qingdao to Hai Phong Port and then road transport to the former Thai Binh area is a practical route. Hai Phong is northern Vietnam’s principal seaport and handles international container and project cargo. RICHI scope covers process engineering, equipment manufacture, factory inspection, export packing, installation guidance, commissioning and operator training. A project of this scale can typically be implemented in about 6–9 months when civil works and equipment manufacture proceed in parallel.