Electricity from poultry manure: a cleaner alternative to direct land application

The oversupply of organic fertilizers causes an urgent need for alternative treatments of manure. CO2 neutral electricity is produced from poultry manure, a renewable fuel which is relatively dry and has a heating value of 6-8 MJ/kg. The electricity production from manure saves emissions from fossil fuel combustion, resulting in a reduced environmental impact in the impact category climate change. Moreover, as manure contains a large amount of ammoniacal N, and due to nitrification and denitrification processes, land spreading of poultry manure causes larger emissions of NH3, N2O and NOx than combustion. Electricity production from manure therefore outperforms land spreading in the impact categories terrestrial acidification, particulate matter formation, marine eutrophication and photochemical oxidant formation. The fluidized bed combustor of BMC in the Netherlands generates zero waste, as the ash is recovered as a PK fertilizer, which is odorless, dry, sterile and has a lower mass and volume than the manure, making it more suitable for export to regions with a high P demand. The ash does however cause technological problems, such as agglomeration and deposition. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.