From waste to energy -- Catalytic steam gasification of broiler litter
In 1996, the production of broiler chickens in the US was approximately 7.60 billion head. The quantity of litter generated is enormous. In 1992, the Southeast region alone produced over five million tons of broiler litter. The litter removed from the broiler houses is rich in nutrients and often spread over land as a fertilizer. Without careful management, the associated agricultural runoff can cause severe environmental damage. With increasing broiler litter production, the implementation of alternative disposal technologies is essential to the sustainable development of the poultry industry. A process originally developed for the conversion of coals to clean gaseous fuel may provide an answer. Catalytic steam gasification utilities an alkali salt catalyst and steam to convert a carbonaceous feedstock to a gas mixture composed primarily of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. The low to medium energy content gas produced may be utilized as an energy source or chemical feedstock. Broiler litter is an attractive candidate for catalytic steam gasification due to its high potassium content. Experiments conducted in UTSI's bench-scale high-pressure fixed bed gasifier have provided data for technical and economic feasibility studies of the process. Experiments have also been performed to examine the effects of temperature, pressure, and additional catalysts on the gasification rate.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Tennessee Space Inst., Tullahoma, TN (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20030537
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Renewable and advanced energy systems for the 21st Century, Maui, HI (US), 04/11/1999--04/15/1999; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating system required: Windows i386, i486, Pentium or Pentium Pro, MS Windows 3.1, 95 or NT3.51; Macintosh, Power Macintosh with a 68020 or greater processor, System software version 7.1, 3.5 MB RAM; UNIX; PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: Renewable and advanced energy systems for the 21st century, RAES'99: Proceedings, by Hogan, R.; Kim, Y.; Kleis, S.; O'Neal, D.; Tanaka, T. [eds.], [1125] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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