Around the world, agriculture and food production generate huge amounts of biomass and organic waste. Chicken manure, in particular, is produced in large quantities worldwide, and while it's increasingly used to feed biogas reactors, the digestate left behind is still an untapped opportunity.  
Brazil, with its large agricultural sector and growing biogas industry, offers an exciting setting for exploring this opportunity. How can a by-product of biogas production be transformed into high-quality biofertilizers that benefit farmers, businesses and the environment?  
You will use Santo Antonio do Monte, Minas Gerais, Brazil as your base, and together with InovaBiogas, you will investigate how digestate from chicken-manure-fed biogas reactors can be processed into different types of biofertilizers and other higher-value products. This could include liquid and solid biofertilizers, biostimulants, and solutions based on co-digestion with other organic materials.  
Producing different types of biofertilizers from raw digestate isn't just good chemistry; it's good business. It increases profit potential, opens up new markets and customer groups, creates additional revenue opportunities and contributes to healthier soils and more circular agricultural systems.  
Your challenge will be to examine the current landscape, identify barriers, and propose smart and realistic strategies to make biofertilizer production from chicken manure digestate more effective and profitable. Specifically, you will identify ways of dealing with digestate with high nitrogen levels, define strategies to minimize its presence in the final biofertilizer, and propose concrete, real-world solutions.  
There is no single right answer. You will work in interdisciplinary teams to combine different perspectives and develop solutions that are not only technically feasible, but also practical, sustainable and economically viable.

**A Summer School in Brazil**  
This challenge offers more than an opportunity to work on a real-world sustainability problem. It is also an international summer-school experience in Brazil, combining challenge-based learning, academic credits and the opportunity to experience a different country and culture.  
A face-to-face (F2F) week in Santo Antônio do Monte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, is a mandatory part of the challenge. During this week, you will take your work from the virtual environment into the real world, working directly with InovaBiogas, researchers specialised in biogas and biofertilizer production, and other relevant stakeholders.  
You will explore the local context, discuss your ideas with experts and investigate how advanced biogas and biofertilizer production systems could be implemented in practice. Being on location will allow you to see the challenges and opportunities first-hand and to test your ideas against the realities of the Brazilian context.  
But the experience does not have to end with the challenge. Why not make the most of your journey to Brazil? Depending on your plans, the summer-school format gives you the opportunity to extend your trip before or after the F2F week to explore Minas Gerais and beyond, from vibrant cities to stunning natural landscapes, turning this academic experience into a broader adventure of discovery and cultural immersion.  
By the end of the challenge, you will have gained experience in tackling a real-world sustainability problem where biogas, agriculture, circular economy and innovation meet. At the same time, you will work in an international team, earn credits toward your studies, and experience the opportunities and challenges of developing sustainable solutions in Brazil — all while exploring one of the world's most captivating countries.  
Go to Brazil to solve a real-world challenge. Come back with new knowledge, new connections and a new perspective on what is possible when waste becomes a resource.  

**Syllabus**

This challenge is given within the context of the course 746G77 Advancing Sustainable Futures: International implementation of Biogas solutions for a Global Greener Transition  
The course examines the implementation and adaptation of anaerobic digestion, biogas and biofertilizer solutions in international contexts outside Europe. It is organized in connection with cities, communities, companies or other relevant actors in an international setting. The course considers context-specific international challenges related to organic waste, energy, agriculture, climate, sanitation and health and evaluates opportunities for addressing these through anaerobic digestion. Attention is given to international differences in feedstocks, infrastructure, climate, resource availability and other local conditions that influence the feasibility and sustainability of biogas and biofertilizer solutions

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Associate partner

Inova Biogas

Associate partner

Inova Biogas

Learning opportunities of Inova Biogas