Some pelletised products claim that the product is sterilised in their process to kill any pathogens. A soil microbiologist has advised us that

It is highly unlikely that drying pellets in an oven drier will kill the pathogens in the centre of the pellet.
If you do sterilise the product and achieve a microbial vacuum, the first microbes to return are usually the pathogens,
If composting is done properly the pathogens will be killed and there should be no need to sterilise.
The slow drying with warm air does not bake the pellet into a hard particle that sometimes takes weeks to break down.
The drying process does ensure a stable pellet which avoids breakdown of the product in the bags or the continued ‘composting’ in the bag sometimes seen with wet product.

We conduct tests for Salmonella, Ecoli and Listeria on every batch of compost before processing and have never found any traces to date.

There is no steam used in our process.

Our process does include two driers and a cooler:

A pre drier. This allows moist compost to be processed. Our poultry manure is composted with the correct moisture content for aerobic composting. This is usually too moist to run through the production plant without an adverse effect on equipment and the reduced compaction in the pelleting dies. Product is exposed to drying in a fluid bed for just 6 seconds and the temperature of the product never exceeds 60 deg C. This adjustable process ensures the compost is always the same moisture, leading to a consistent compaction in our pelleting dies.
A post drier. The warm moist pellets are retained in a continuous feed drier for up to an hour. This process slowly removes moisture from the whole pellet and product temperature never exceeds 54 deg C.
Pellet Cooler. The warm pellets are transferred to an ambient air cooler in which large volumes of air remove additional moisture, stabilize the pellet structure and cool the product to below ambient temperature

The resultant product is then stable to store in silos and bags for prolonged periods of time and will easily flow through spreading equipment. The remaining moisture ( 12-14%) is adequate for the survival of the beneficial microbes which have been preserved with the gentle drying processes.

One of the main advantages of Organic Xtra is the healthy population of microorganisms generated during aerobic composting and maintained during our processing.

Frequently Asked Questions