[USCC] Re: Compost as fuel

[CAVM at aol.com]

Jerry Foster, the problems with combustion of poultry litter are basically  3.
 
1.  Litter clumps and smolders without a good under fired combustion  unit, 
densification or a bulking agent.  Any or all of these will help  significantly.
 
2.  At high combustion temperatures slagging occurs.
 
3. Acid released during combustion will eventually degrade the combustion  
chamber and heat exchangers.
 
Certainly the minerals will not be consumed in the combustion unit.   
However, the handling issues are greatly reduced.  Perhaps this group can  assist in 
value added processing for the ash.
 
Heating poultry houses with biomass involves significant capital in  
equipment.  Either multiple biomass units are required or insulated  transmission 
lines to carry hot water to each house must be laid.  The  district heating model 
of a single large combustion unit and multiple buried  lines to transmit the 
hot water seems the most economical and least  trouble.
 
Other issues are to be considered such as the method of transmission.   We 
advocate hot water radiators of various kinds depending on the house  
construction.  Dr. Mike Brown of Arab, Alabama recommends hot air  systems.  In either 
case the birds are considerably more healthy, the  litter drier, odor and flies 
greatly reduced and significant money is saved by  the farmer.  Automatic 
feeding and ash cleaning features, heat exchangers  and other issues must be 
addressed in the design of a combustion system.
 
I am coming to the idea that composted poultry litter may be somewhat  better 
as a fuel then dried straight litter.  Odor issues in the stockpiled  fuel as 
well as volumes of litter are reduced.  I think it  may handle better 
composted as well. 
 
Missouri has other farm issues, including not having rendering plants for  
farm mortalities.  As has been said here, composting mortalities on the  farm 
may now provide a new source of biomass fuel for your farmers. These are  very 
exciting issues to be discussing.
 
Neal Van Milligen
_www.kentuckyenrichment.com_ (http://www.kentuckyenrichment.com) 
_cavm at aol.com_ (mailto:cavm at aol.com) 
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From:  "Jerry Foster" _jerry.foster at dnr.mo.gov_ 
(mailto:jerry.foster at dnr.mo.gov) 

Do  you have a idea, or better yet a plan for dealing with the ash? 
Missouri  has a project going to look at using poultry litter to as fuel 
for force  air furnaces used to heat the same barns the litter came from. 
We're  seeing air quality improvements in the barns and reduced volume of 
litter  to handle.  But for the most part, we have the same amount of  
phosphorus in the ash as we had when we started with the litter.  We  
haven't found anyone willing to utilize the ash.