Technology Summit-Pathways to Energy. St Petersburg, FL May 21-23, 2008

Poultry Litter: the next generation biofuel

feedstock?

Foster A AgblevorDepartment of Biological Systems Engineering,

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061fagblevo@vt.edu

What is pyrolysis?

• Pyrolysis is the thermal conversion of organic materials in the absence of oxidizing agents such as oxygen.

• Pyrolysis leads to thermochemical decomposition of organic materials into a complex mixture of compounds

Schematic depiction of Biomass pyrolysis

What is pyrolysis?

• Pyrolysis products are usually not well defined especially when applied to complex natural materials such as biomass.

• The pyrolysis phenomena can be divided into several regimes depending on the heating rate

• Slow pyrolysis, fast pyrolysis, ultrafast pyrolysis, vacuum pyrolysis and high pressure pyrolysis

Fast pyrolysis

• Vapor residence time 1<t<5 seconds

• Pyrolysis temperature 400≤T≤600 oC

• Products—liquid, solid, gases

• Liquid yield 60 to 70 wt%

• Gas yield 10 to 20 wt%

• Solid yield 10 to 40 wt%

Environmental applications of pyrolysis

• Poultry litter pyrolysis

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

Broiler chicken litter

Feedstock analysis (dry basis)

Sample C (%) H (%) N (%) S (%) Cl (%) Ash (%)

HHV (MJ/kg)

Chicken bedding

47.24 5.94 <0.5 <0.2 82 ppm

1.36 19.25

Flock-1 litter

34.05 4.42 2.89 0.63 0.74 15.33 15.47

Flock-2 litter

36.84 5.00 3.94 1.02 1.14 16.05 15.65

Flock-3 litter

35.33 5.40 4.10 0.70 n/a 21.17 14.37

Starter turkey litter

43.65 5.71 2.57 0.36 0.20 5.42 18.47

Figure 3 Pretreated corn cobs

Amosoak Sample

6

1

3- 1

5

7

8

9

2

3- 3

3- 2

3- 4

3- 5

3- 6

4- 1

4- 2

103- 7

3- 8

3- 9

3- 10

11- 1 11- 2 11- 3

12 13

14

15

16

17

Fluidized bed pyrolysis unit

Broiler litter biooil

Poultry litter biooil

Products yield from fluidized bed reactor

Sample Temperature, ℃

Yield, wt%

Oil Gas Char

Chicken bedding

500 63.3±11.3 n/a 12.7±

Flock-1 litter 500 45.7±2.9 13.6±5.7 40.6±6.2

Flocks-2 litter 500 36.8±1.2 22.3±2.5 40.8±1.9

Flock-3 litter 500 43.5±5.1 23.6±6.4 32.9±3.7

Starter Turkey litter

500 50.2±1.6 21.7±1.9 21.7±1.9

Bio-oil properties

Sample C (%)

H (%)

O (%)

N (%)

S (%) Moit (%)

pH Ash (%)

HHV (MJ/kg

Chicken bedding

55.25 6.54 37.58 <0.5 <0.05 5.3 2.7 <0.08 22.64

Flock-1 litter

63.24 7.22 23.89 5.05 0.46 4.6 6.1 <0.09 28.25

Flock-2 litter

64.06 8.14 22.27 4.94 0.41 4.6 6.3 <0.09 28.0

Flock-3 62.84 8.31 20.72 7.23 <0.9 4.0 6.3 0.17 29.57

Starter turkey litter

64.90 8.44 20.31 5.60 0.4 3.7 4.2 0.10 29.76

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Visc

osity

(cP)

Time (days)

Neat Biooil

MeOH + Biooil

EtOH + Biooil

Ace + Biooil

Potential Applications of bio-oil

Poultry Powered!!!

Pyrolysis Char of Broiler Litter

Comparison of ash contents of raw and pyrolyzed material

Sample Raw litter

Ash (wt%)

Pyrolysis char

Ash (wt%)

Chicken bedding

1.36

Flock-1 15.33 60.12

Flock-2 16.05 52.03

Broiler 21.17 52.40

Starter Turkey 5.42 28.42

Element/Compound Wt%

Total N 2.84

P2O5 2.68

K2O 4.19

Ca 7.5

Mg 1.54

S 0.99

Al 0.54

B 0.01

Cu 0.11

Fe 0.54

Mn 0.12

Element

Na, (wt%) 2.05

Zn, (wt%) 0.1

Cd, mg/kg 1.0

Ni, mg/kg 40.0

Pb, mg/kg 37.0

As, mg/kg 42.5

Hg, mg/kg DL

Se, mg/kg 1.9

Mo, mg/kg 16.0

Co, mg/kg 5.0

Nutrient Composition Broiler char

Variation in phosphorous content of ash with temperature

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950

Furnace Temperature (°C)

Co

nc

en

tra

tio

n (

mg

/L)

Broiler Flock 1 Turkey

Variation in potassium content of ash with increasing temperature

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950

Furnace Temperature (°C)

Co

nc

en

tra

tio

n (

mg

/L)

Broiler Flock 1 Turkey

Leaching Results

TKN

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1 hour 4 day 7 day 14 day 1 month 2 month

time

% lo

ss t

o s

oln

RFM

RF1

RF2

RAT

F1

F2

AT

PO4

0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

1 hour 4 day 7 day 14 day 1 month 2 month

time

% lo

ss t

o s

oln

RFM

RF1

RF2

RAT

F1

F2

AT

Demonstration Unit

• We propose to use the funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Federation to build a transportable pyrolysis unit to convert poultry litter into bio-oil and slow-release fertilizer in the Shenandoah Valley.

• Pyrolysis demonstration is in progress.• A demonstration unit is on the farm of Mr Oren

Heatwole, Poultry Specialties Inc, Dayton, VA.

Poultry LitterFluidized Bed

Pyrolysis Reactor

Hot FiltrationCyclone

FilterSystem

Pyrolysis OilCondensation

System

ESP and

CoalescingSystem

LBG

Compression

LBG

ReheatBurner

PoultryLitter

FeedingSystem

Compressed

Air

StartupLPG

RawOil Product

Ashand

Char

Dolomite

Excess LBGto FeedDryer

Cooling

Tower

Exhaust to Atmosphere

Flow chart of transportable pyrolysis unit

Rockingham County Cooperator

• A pilot pyrolysis unit will be demonstrated on the property of our cooperator, Mr. Oren Heatwole.

• The unit will be transportable from farm to farm, but most of the initial research will be done on-site.

• Poultry litter from a neighboring farm will be used as the feedstock for the pilot project.

Modified Furnace for Using Bio-Oil

ADI Thermal Power Corp

Goal: Develop the unique features of ADI’s dual shellStirling engine into an engine/generator systemfor the multi-billion dollar distributed power market.

Product: - 25 kW single cylinder Dual Shell Stirling engine - Expandable to 4 cylinder 100 kW version - Engine / generator with grid interconnect- Natural Gas - Skid mount with easy installation for fuel, electricity, and hot water

Unique features: Provide clean and quiet electric power above diesel engine efficiencies at competitive costs. This is a breakthrough technology.

Market: $5 Billion dollar annual distributed power market. Onsite power generation for both continuous and standby power. Markets currently dominated by diesel engines.

Customers: Focus on industrial and commercial applications such as food industry, industrial parks, hotels, schools, and medical facilities

Sales: Combination of Heating and A/C System installers and ADI demonstration sites

Technical Support: Provide 5 year full maintenance agreement to accelerate market acceptance.

ADI Stirling Engine System

Fuel Flexible• Natural gas• Propane• Ethyl alcohol• Biomass • Hydrogen• Waste heat • Solar Heat

Output shaft power to Generator

Highest Efficiency of all heat engines with patented

“Dual Shell Pressure Balancing Technology”

Runs on Heat

Replace diesel generators for distributed power market

Quiet

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

Thank you

• Questions?

Transportable pyrolysis unit