September 4, 2007

Scientist in the US tests technology to turn chicken waste into biofuels

A Virginia Tech scientist has received more than US$1 million in grants to field-test a technology that would turn poultry litter into a safer fertilizer and a biofuel.

Associate Professor Foster A. Agblevor is planning to test his mobile guano reactor at a chicken farm in the Shenandoah Valley, the heart of Virginia's poultry industry.

If successful, the technology would not only provide an alternative fuel supply for the state, but also solve the problem of the mountains of wastes churned out by the huge poultry industry in Virginia.

The project is not new to America. A power plant in Minnesota now burns turkey waste to create electricity and a similar litter-to-energy project is currently being implemented in Georgia.

But while Agblevor's technology creates a biofuel, the others do not. His technology also do not release further air emissions. Through fast pyrolysis, or the quick heating of material in the absence of oxygen, the polluting factor of air emissions is eliminated.

Agblevor said although the fertilizer is lower in nutrients, it is less environmentally risky to apply on farms and fields.

A five tonne litter would yield about 800 pounds of charcoal fertilizer and 1,000 pounds of biofuel.

The field trial is expected to last about a year. The technology, if successful, meant farmers could haul their litter to a local unit in the morning and pick up their fertilizer and biofuel later that day.