biofuel from chicken manure
posted by Brent FinneganAs reported on WSVA this morning, a poultry farm in Dayton has been selected as part of a $1 million, year-long experiment to turn chicken dung into biofuel.
Foster A. Agblevor, a prof at Virginia Tech plans to test his mobile guano reactor at a chicken farm in Dayton this fall.
His efforts, if successful, will not only provide an alternative fuel supply for the state, but also a solution to reduce the mounting chicken and turkey wastes from the $830 million poultry industry in Virginia… he burns the droppings through a process called fast pyrolysis, or the quick heating of material in the absence of oxygen… Agblevor calls the dark-brown, sticky fluid “pyro-oil” or “pyro-diesel.” The fertilizer, he says, is lower in nutrients and less environmentally risky to apply on farms and fields (text lifted from Energy Current).
No mention of the fish kills in any of those stories, but it sounds like this may have the potential to cut back on fish-killing nutrients in the local waterways (assuming it is successful and the method is practiced widely on local poultry farms).
posted: September 4th, 2007 by Brent Finnegan
filed under news & meta-news, technology, the environment.
Comments: 11
Comments
Comment from David Miller
Time: September 4, 2007, 3:31 pm
This kind of technology would be a huge boom for the valley. Formerly the poultry capital of the world, now giving Saudi Arabia a run for their money :)
Comment from Frank J Witt
Time: September 4, 2007, 6:06 pm
I wish him well and hope to see it thru. A “local” farmer I speak with about all things farming told me this year had been a banner year for turkey farmers because of the $$ in turkey litter that was sold to surrounding farms as fertilizer. I am curious as to what this process would be able to purchase the litter for, because if the $$ for the raw product (litter) that is paid does not equal what the farmer is selling it for now, will it become just another GREAT idea with no one to sell him the raw material.
I really am anxious to talk to Reggie and see what he thinks. I know it is early but any help to our rivers while still helping farmers shows promise.
Comment from Kelly
Time: September 4, 2007, 7:22 pm
Listeners of NPR also got some good news about poo today. There was a great piece about Princeton drop out who launched his own small Jersey-based company called TerraCycle, which specializes in… worm poo! They feed the worms organic garbage, harvest their liquid poo and then package it in used plastic soda bottles and it’s apparently great fertilizer. Being an amateur gardener, I was interested and looked them up at http://www.terracycle.net/
It’s kinda of cool that their whole packaged product is recycled garbage. They also encourage charity organizations to set up plastic bottle donations centers, and pay them six cents a bottle. Unfortunately Miracle Gro producers Scotts are suing for false advertising… apparently TerraCycle’s ads says something to the effect of worm poop works better than a leading synthetic fertilizer and Miracle Gro is saying show us the data. You can listen to the NPR story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14149823
TerraCycle’s website says you can buy Worm Poop at Target or Kroger. I’m gonna buy some Worm Poop before they get crushed by the giant corporation… those poor ol’ poo wrangling dropouts!!!
Comment from republitarian
Time: September 5, 2007, 7:53 am
The “farm” is not a poultry farm. It is a stones throw off our property line. It is nothing more than a shop with a burner.
I hope everything works like they want it to. Oren is a real nice fella.
Comment from linz
Time: September 5, 2007, 11:44 am
Does anyone know if burning the poo puts bad stuff in the air? Just curious. Either way, it’s probably better than mining or drilling for fuel.
Comment from finnegan
Time: September 5, 2007, 12:00 pm
I don’t know, but if those veggie oil cars smell like fries, I can only imagine what chicken waste biofuel would smell like.
Comment from Bubby
Time: September 5, 2007, 5:35 pm
The article says the litter is heated in an oxygen-free chamber with no discharge - oil, gas, and ash are collected. The recovered gas (methane?) would fuel the heater, so that may be a small air discharge. I don’t see this as significant source of energy, rather a responsible recovery of resources from a hazardous material - chicken litter. It appears that the process would sanitize the manure and make it suitable for safe storage and shipping.
Comment from Thanh
Time: September 5, 2007, 9:38 pm
If the recovered gas is indeed methane, that’s actually a really good use of it. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that if emitted into the atmosphere has a high global warming potential. This is a pretty neat sounding experiment, and I’m interested to see what the findings are a year from now.
Comment from David Troyer
Time: September 6, 2007, 12:50 am
From what I understand the new hospital will use methane that comes off of the county landfill as an energy source.
Comment from Josh Dove
Time: September 6, 2007, 12:01 pm
Hey Finnegan, I would like to have a contest for a new store name for my music store, Ben’s Music. Would this be something hburgnews would be interested in coordinating. I have a feeling DNR would run an article as well. This was the only way I knew to reach you. Feel free to e-mail me at josh@bensmusicllc.com
Comment from Emmy
Time: September 6, 2007, 12:43 pm
I thought you were changing the name back to its old name? I’d prefer that over anything else.
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