China’s First Chicken Waste-Biogas Plant Turns Manure Into Electricity and Heat

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

chickens walking on grass photo
Let’s remember that on a chicken farm containing 3 million birds, they probably never are let outside. Photo by Tim via flickr.

We recently heard about a report which estimates that 3% of US electrical demand could be met though utilizing cow manure to generate electricity. While for me it’s a bit of cold comfort to know that a byproduct of industrial agriculture could generate renewable electricity, at least a waste product is being put to better use. Along those lines, an industrial-scale chicken farm (3 million chickens!) in China has recently installed the nation’s first chicken manure-biogas plant.

Chicken Manure to Provide Electricity and Heat
The Beijing Deqingyuan Chicken Farm Waste Utilization plant, located about 50 kilometers north of Beijing will utilize the 220 tons of manure the farm’s chickens produce every day to generate energy. The waste will be fed into an anaerobic digester to produce biogas, which will fuel two GE Jenbacher gas engines.

This system will produce 14,600 MWh of electricity a year, as well as providing heat for the farm. It is expected to reduce the farm’s carbon emissions by 95,000 tons annually, as well as saving them $1.2 million in electricity costs.

In addition to providing heat and electricity to the farm, the project is hoped to reduce electric shortages in the region as a whole.

via :: The BioEnergySite

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