Making Use of Poultry Litter
Researchers at Virginia Tech are converting poultry litter — the mixture of sawdust and droppings under cages — to biofuels, adhesives and fertilizer.
When the poultry litter is heated to a high temperature, the vapor that results can be condensed into a bio-oil fuel that can be used in diesel engines. Another part of the process forms a substance that can be used to make an adhesive.
The final residue becomes a slow-release fertilizer, which allows better control of nutrient release and is about 10 times less polluting.
The researchers are using a portable pyrolysis unit (see photo), which can transported from farm to farm.
