Jones Family Farm Struvite Reactor

Purpose: Reduce phosphorus from dairy cow waste to an optimal level for use as fertilizer.

Project: Liquid dairy waste is collected in lagoons and pumped into a reactor, which chemically breaks the bonds between the phosphorus and the calcium in the waste and binds it instead to magnesium chloride (struvite crystals) that settle to the bottom of the reactor. The waste, with up to 60% of phosphorus removed, is pumped into a separate low-phosphorus lagoon to be custom blended and irrigated on the surrounding crop fields as needed. The struvite crystals can be removed from the bottom of the reactor and sold as fertilizer.

Cost: $917,000 funded by the Jones Family Farm and Chesapeake Bay Trust

Pollution Reductions: 7,300 lbs of phosphorus annually