From Poultry Litter to Biodiesel

Filed in archive Energy, Environment and Ecology , Food and Agriculture on August 20, 2007

Researchers from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech are developing transportable pyrolysis units that will convert poultry litter - a mixture of bedding, manure, feathers, and spilled feed.- into bio-oil, an economical, safe and environmentally-friendly waste disposal system that produces fertilizer and pyrodiesel (bio-oil) at the same time.

"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."

Depending on the age and the bedding content of the litter, the average bio-oil yields ranged from 30 to 50 percent by weight, which may be as high as 62 percent by weight if the bedding material used were mostly hardwood shavings.

Source: Virginia Tech News.
Photo: USDA, Credit: Stephen Ausmus.