Fertiliser that smells like cupcakes? Hard to imagine and you’d suspect that it probably doesn’t work. But not only does a sweet- smelling form of fertiliser exist, I was assured by its producer, Biomax Technologies, that it is pretty potent fodder for plants – packed with three times more potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen than conventional fertiliser. It can even double as fish food.
‘It’s sweet because it’s made from cake. And there’re a lot of vitamins in it – suitable for fish! Fish like it,’ says Puah Chum Mok, the lecturer-turned-technologist of homegrown Biomax, as he handed over the jar of the pork-floss looking ochre powder.
As I cracked open the other jars loaded with darker powder – labelled ‘Chicken dung’ and ‘Palm Fruit Bunches’ – I pointed out they didn’t exactly smell like paradise, although they are far from the reek of rotten eggs in normal fertiliser.
‘Of course they smell! There’s some ammonia after the waste material is processed. But at least there’s no hydrogen sulphide’ that gives fertiliser its rancid top notes, says Dr Puah who is the chairman and chief technology officer.
Biomax was formed a little over two years ago from Dr Puah’s kernel of an idea to accelerate how fertiliser is usually made from waste through composting or anaerobic fermentation.
What is done on farms is that dung and all manner of garbage are shovelled into a pile on the ground or into a dug hole. Fertiliser is eventually produced three to nine months later when bacteria, deprived of oxygen, essentially feed on the stinky mountain of waste.
But, points out Dr Puah, the resultant fertiliser may contain enough pathogens to slay a cow – salmonella, brucella, and diphtheria may lurk in the manure. Biomax’s thermophilic digestors changes all that. Animal or food waste – along with sawdust to soak up the moisture – is loaded into the machine which, at its largest, is taller than two grown men, instead of being left out in the open.
Then, a tailor-made mix of enzymes is added in the machine – the secret formula X that speeds up digestion to last only one day, ushering in the industrial age of fertiliser production.
The machines, large enough to fill a spacious boardroom, operate at 80 degrees Celsius, killing off toxins and harmful bacteria. And in the oxygenated process, a more pleasant-smelling 100 per cent pure organic fertiliser is formed 24 hours later.
‘Farms are pressured to move because of expansion of townships,’ says Dr Puah. ‘People get annoyed by the smell so this helps farms handle their waste faster and also cause less nuisance to residents living nearby.’
While much of urban Singapore may not find much use for Biomax’s technology, it has resonated with many others. Biomax has received inquiries from 33 territories as far away as Brazil, South Africa, and Dubai about its system.
Still, Biomax got its start in mid- 2009 in its own backyard at chicken farm, Chew’s Farm. Dr Puah created his first prototype to handle the farm’s chicken dung there.
Though Biomax’s technology has won praise and snagged a high level of interest from around the world, the marketing team is met more often than not with some scepticism. ‘Singapore is not a farming country, so a lot of them do not believe that a Singaporean company has come up with the idea to make organic fertiliser within 24 hours,’ says Dr Puah.
Farmers usually shy away from trying it. They are concerned about splashing out the money – and space – on machines that might spit out unsellable fertiliser that reduces crop yield or changes the flavour of crops. So bags of Biomax’s fertiliser are sent to the sceptics for free to test them out.
So far, this sales pitch has worked. Farms in more than 10 countries have bought Biomax Rapid Thermophilic digestors and the enzyme pack and the phone has been ringing off the hook thanks to publicity in trade publications in more than 10 countries.
One reason why the Biomax Rapid Thermophilic digestors are marketable is that they are of themselves a revenue-generating asset for the buyers. The money spent on the machines – the largest 80,000- litre unit is priced at over US$1 million – can be recovered when buyers sell the fertiliser they make.
For Biomax, the two-in-one digestor system makes sense in bolstering its cash flow. Once Biomax has sold a digestor, it gets recurring income as the buyer has to buy the special BM1 enzyme mix.
The company likens the system to buying a car: Without continually topping up the petrol tank, it would just be a heap of metal. Likewise, the digestors would be left collecting dust without its fuel – the BM1 enzyme.
The good response it has received and its recurring income stream are why the company is optimistic that next year it will enter the black. After all, this year it has pushed out almost $1.7 million in sales and gross profits of about $670,000. Expansion and marketing activities however dunked it in the red with net losses of $1 million.
Even when Dr Puah knows Biomax has got itself a solid product, he is still devoted to research, research, research. The enzyme mix has to be constantly tweaked according to what type of waste – food waste, vegetation or animal waste – is put into the digestor.
Dr Puah also knows the technology is only as relevant as the timings it is able to clock on its digestion process, so research dollars are ploughed into making it quicker. At the moment, Biomax’s machines are for large farms. But it has its eyes on the more urban market.
The next step it wants to take is to go small with a 200-litre reactor to reach out to restaurants and hotels, which discharge mountains of wasted food daily. It seems the sky is the limit. There are opportunities for Biomax’s technology in waste incineration or water utility companies.
After waste is burnt in a furnace or after water is filtered, the resultant effluent can be collected and treated by Biomax and packaged into safe organic fertiliser. Like the company’s motto goes, Biomax is in the business of turning waste to wealth.
