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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Thermochemical process converts poultry litter into bio-oil Provides safer, more environmentally friendly solution to waste disposal Contact: Lori Greiner Foster Agblevor, associate professor of biological systems engineering, is leading the team of researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (www.cals.vt.edu) at Virginia Tech (www.vt.edu) developing transportable pyrolysis units that will convert poultry litter into bio-oil, providing an economical disposal system while reducing environmental effects and biosecurity issues. Agblevor will present the research during the 234th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston on August 19-23. Agblevor is working with poultry growers to test technology that would convert poultry litter to three value-added byproducts – pyrodiesel (bio-oil), producer gas, and fertilizer. The pyrolysis unit heats the litter until it vaporizes. The vapor is then condensed to produce the bio-oil, and a slow release fertilizer is recovered from the reactor. The gas can then be used to operate the pyrolysis unit, making it a self-sufficient system. More than 5.6 million tons of poultry litter are produced each year in the United States. The litter consists of a mixture of bedding, manure, feathers, and spilled feed. According to Agblevor, current disposal methods, such as land application and feeding to cattle, are under pressure because of pollution of water resources due to leaching and runoff and concern about mad cow disease contamination in the food chain. There are also concerns that poultry litter can harbor such diseases as avian influenza. While avian influenza is not harmful to humans, people can spread it on their shoes, with their vehicles, or through movement of litter. “The self-contained transportable pyrolsis unit will allow poultry producers to process the litter on site rather than having to haul the litter to a separate location,” Agblevor said. “In addition, the thermochemical process destroys the microorganisms reducing the likelihood of the transmission of disease to other locations.” Poultry litter from broiler chickens and turkeys and bedding materials (wood shavings or peanut hulls) were converted into bio-oils in a fast pyrolysis fluidized bed reactor. According to Agblevor, bio-oil yields ranged from 30 to 50 percent by weight, depending on the age and the bedding content of the litter. Bedding material that was mostly hardwood shavings yielded bio-oil as high as 62 percent by weight. The higher heating value of the poultry litter bio-oil ranged from 26 to 29 mega joules per kilogram while bio-oil from bedding material was only 24 mega joules per kilogram. The bio-oils had relatively high nitrogen content ranging from 4 percent to 7 percent by weight, very low sulfur content, below 1 percent by weight, and were very viscous. The char yield ranged from 30 percent to 50 percent by weight, depending on the source, age, and composition of the poultry litter. The char also had a high ash content, ranging from 30 percent to 60 percent by weight, depending on the age and source of litter. “The type of poultry litter used will affect the amount and quality of the bio-oil produced and ultimately will impact the producer’s profitability,” Agblevor said. “Finding the right set of conditions for the poultry litter is key to the adaptation of this technology.”
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#5. To: farmfriend, lodwick, richard9151, noone222, christine (#0)
Here is the one of the key reasons that this wonderful idea will NOT go very far. If the poultry producer can process the litter on site, that means that he will be able to produce bio-oil on site resulting in the poultry producer having a valuable source of energy for sale. This would create competition in the energy market, and there is no way that the big oil companies can allow this. This will do little to further inflation, it would open up free market options and greater energy choices. This simply cannot be allowed in Amerika. Energy created from waste, using waste instead of allowing it to spill into the eco system, and free trade are against the very grain of what this country has become. There are two likely scenarios that will follow this discovery. Either the equipment will be so outrageously priced that it would be nearly impossible to produce enough product to pay for the equipment before the equipment wears out, or Big Brother will decide that there are environmental risks to this process and either over regulate to the point that no one will want to go through all of the red tape, or ban the use of it all together. There are MANY solutions to our energy issues. We could fulfill all of our energy needs for little cost compared to what we pay today, without causing a domino effect in food pricing, and in ways helpful to the environment. It is sad that none of these solutions are feasible because they all promote free trade, would advance the little guy, create competition for Big Oil, and would slow inflation and tax revenues.
*ping*
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