PRODUCTION AND PROPERTIES OF POULTRY LITTER BIOCHAR

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PRODUCTION AND PROPERTIES OF POULTRY LITTER
BIOCHAR

• Foster A Agblevor, D. Grysko, O Mante, R. Allevi
• Department of Biological Systems Engineering,
• Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061
• fagblevo_at_vt.edu

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Broiler chicken litter
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Schematic depiction of Biomass pyrolysis
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Fast pyrolysis

• Vapor residence time 1lttlt5 seconds
• Pyrolysis temperature 400T600 oC
• Productsliquid, solid, gases
• Liquid yield 60 to 70 wt
• Gas yield 10 to 20 wt
• Solid yield 10 to 40 wt

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Reasons for Pyrolysis of Poultry Litter

• Traditionally, poultry litter is disposed by land
  application and used as cattle feed
• Disposal of poultry litter in the U.S. poultry
  industry is becoming a major challenge because of
  
• Excess nutrient in the soil due to land
  application
• Contamination of drinking water
• Eutrophication of surface waters
• Ammonia emission from poultry houses
• Soil acidification through nitrification and
  leaching
• Biosecurity concerns

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Feedstock analysis (dry basis)
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Amosoak Sample
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Fluidized bed pyrolysis unit
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Demonstration Unit

• Funding from the National Fish and Wildlife
  Foundation was used to build a transportable
  pyrolysis unit to convert poultry litter into
  biooil and char (slow-release fertilizer) in the
  Shenandoah Valley.
• Pyrolysis demonstration is in progress.
• The demonstration unit is on the farm of Mr Oren
  Heatwole, Poultry Specialties Inc, Dayton, VA.

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Flow chart of transportable pyrolysis unit
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Transportable pyrolysis unit
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Broiler litter biooil
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Poultry litter biooil
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Products yield from fluidized bed reactor
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Bio-oil properties
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Functional Composition of biooils
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Broiler Litter Pyrolysis Char
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Particle size distribution of pyrolysis chars
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Variation in potassium content of ash with
increasing temperature
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Variation in phosphorous content of ash with
temperature
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Comparison of pyrolysis char from two units
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Nutrient Composition Broiler-3 char
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Oak wood pyrolysis char
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Poplar pyrolysis char
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Broiler litter pyrolysis char
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Broiler litter pyrolysis char
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Broiler Litter char sample
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Pyrolysis Char Nutrient Release Rates
One gallon plastic jugs filled with two and a
half liters of distilled water and 25 grams of
each treatment (1 w/v solution) Treatments
Flock 1, Flock 2, Aged Turkey, Feather meal and
un-pyrolysized materials (F1, F2, AT) Containers
incubate at room temperature Samples analyzed
for available nitrogen (TKN) and phosphorus at
the following time points 1 hour, 24 hours, 3
days, 7 days, 14 days, 1 months, 2 months, 3
months, 4 months, 5 months, and 6 months
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Leaching Results
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Pot studies on Biochar
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Tomato Harvest Data
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Conclusions

• Poultry litter can be successfully pyrolyzed into
  biooils but have low oil yields and high char
  yields
• We can produce bio-oils on a demonstration scale
• Biooils have high energy content, high pH, but
  are very viscous
• Applications of biooil needs to be developed
• Pyrolysis char release much less nutrients
  compared to raw materials
• Evidence from previous greenhouse studies
  indicates that the nutrients from pyrolysis
  materials are available to plants
• Nutrients take longer than typical growing
  seasons to be released
• Nutrient release rates curves may be of interest
  for other sources of N-P-K used

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Acknowledgement

• We greatly appreciate the contribution of
  Virginia Poultry Federation, Chesapeake Bay
  Foundation and Shenandoah RC Council for their
  foresight and initial funding support.
• Farm Pilot Projects Coordination Inc (FPPC) for
  funding support
• National Fish and Wildlife Federation for
  Scale-up funding support
• Blue Moon Fund Program for funding support
• Mr Robert Clark for initiating the project,
  collecting samples and getting the growers in the
  Valley involved in the project
• Waste Solutions Forum for promoting the project

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Litter Powered!!!
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Thank you

• Questions?