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Poultry Litter "Gasified" To Produce Power, Fertilizer
Marc Marsh and his wife Melanie have a poultry operation that produces about 1,200 tons of poultry litter annually. Instead of spreading it all on farm fields, they teamed up with the U.S.D.A.’s Farm Pilot Project Coordination (FPPC) program in a 7-year quest to build a poultry litter gasification system. FPPC engineer Preston Burnette says the system can produce about 20 to 30 kilowatts of electrical power annually. Other byproducts are clean hot air that can be used to heat the production barns, and poultry ash, which Marsh can use to fertilize his turf grass and market to other producers. The ash is high in phosphate, potash, calcium and micronutrients.

    Gasification of Marsh’s litter takes place in equipment supplied by BGP, a Canadian company. Litter is auguered into the gasifier at the rate of 200 lbs. an hour. A gas-fired furnace heats the litter to temperatures approaching 700 degrees, at which point carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide are produced. Some of that gas can be mixed with propane to fuel the furnace while the remainder is sent into a secondary chamber where it ignites in a controlled environment. Heat from that chamber passes through an exchanger that brings water to a boiling temperature of 220 degrees F. The boiling water circulates through an Organic Rankine Cycle turbine, where it boils a refrigerant that’s used to power a turbine to create electric power. BGP says its proprietary gasification method renders all biomass waste into sterile, contaminant-free material.

    “It’s a complicated process, but it’s an efficient process,” says Marsh. “We think once the bugs are worked out it might prove to be economically feasible for an operation this size.”

    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Marc Marsh, M Marsh Farms, Inc., 2434 Brocks Mill Rd., Cheraw, S.C. 29520 (ph 843 537-0374).


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2013 - Volume #37, Issue #4