Poultry litter-based fertilizer and a method for making the poultry litter-based fertilizer from poultry litter

A method for producing a poultry litter-based fertilizer having an enhanced nitrogen level comprising:

• a) supplying poultry litter to a rotating rotary drum;
• b) adding an acid and/or a source of acid to the rotating rotary drum, wherein the source of acid forms acid in the rotating rotary drum, and the acid in the rotating rotary drum reacts with the poultry litter to form heat and an acidified mixture;
• c) adding water and at least one of ammonia or a source of ammonia to the rotating rotary drum, wherein the source of ammonia forms ammonia in the rotating rotary drum, and the ammonia in the rotating rotary drum reacts with the acidified mixture to produce heat and an ammoniated mixture containing an ammonium salt;
• d) drying and cooling the ammoniated mixture by evaporation of water to form a dried, cooled product in a free-flowing semi-solid or solid form;
• e) repeating steps b) through d) until a desired nitrogen content is reached in the dried, cooled product;
• f) adjusting a pH in at least one step b) to destroy pathogens, weed seeds, drugs, hormones, and/or antibiotics present in the poultry litter;
• and
• g) final drying and cooling of the dried, cooled product to form the poultry litter-based fertilizer having an enhanced nitrogen level greater than 6% nitrogen by weight based on the total weight of the poultry litter-based fertilizer compared to a poultry litter-based fertilizer produced by only running steps b) and c) once, wherein the ammonium salt comprises ammonium sulfate and the poultry litter-based fertilizer comprising at least 30% ammonium sulfate by weight.