COMPOST
Good, straw-rich horse manure.
Dipping the bales.
bales are dipped in leachate water, then stored for four days. The bales are then loosened, mixed with chicken manure and filled in a bunker. When the bunkers are filled and refilled, all the raw materials are optimally mixed in large mixing drums. After two days, the material is removed from the bunker, mixed with horse manure and chicken manure and refilled into the bunker. Following three days of fermentation, the material is filled into a tunnel and five days later the phase 1 compost is ready to be filled directly into the pasteurisation tunnels via a system of conveyor belts. The compost can be inoculated after five days of pasteurisation and conditioning, and 17 to 18 days later the incubated compost is ready for delivery.
In total, production amounts to 800 tons of incubated compost per week, 500 tons of which is supplied in bulk by trailer, and 300 tons is pressed in blocks weighing 17 kilos each. These blocks are stacked on pallets and transported by trailer to the customers. 300 tons of phase III
compost is destined for use on the company’s own mushroom growing farms and 500 tons of compost is dispatched to around 40 - mainly Italian - customers. Funghitex works entirely with indoor processes, except for the supply of horse manure. This approach is unique for a composting plant in Italy. The exhaust air from the bunkers is purified by air scrubbers and the resulting ammonium sulphate is reused in the compost. Another unique feature is the use of spigot flooring for the fermentation, pasteurisation and incubation phases. This allows the bunkers and tunnels to be emptied with a loader and no pulling winches are required. The air blown into the tunnels is cooled by an adiabatic system – this is a natural method of cooling. The cooling system draws the air through water-saturated pads. Heat is required to evaporate the water and this energy is extracted from the air. The warmer the air entering the system, the more moisture is absorbed and the more the air cools. At 30 degrees Celsius and dry air, the air will cool to 10 degrees. This is a relatively simple, low-maintenance cooling system that ensures optimal humidification.
Funghitex works almost entirely indoor, a unique approach in Italy.
36 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
Market-centric production There are two mushroom farms in addition to the composting plant. The MAC farm numbers 22 growing rooms of 300 m2 (total 6,600 m2 growing surface area) and with 41 rooms, the CIRCEO farm has a growing surface area that totals 12,000 m2. All the growing rooms are
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