When over applied, these water soluble or leachable nutrients are dissolved in rain water, which feeds into watersheds. Nutrient rich run off water feeds explosive algae growth, removing dissolved oxygen from streams and lakes, creating poor water quality and massive fish kills. Although over application of poultry litter tends to be geographically concentrated, the areas of concern are occurring in several regions of the United States. These programs were initialized in response to the oil embargo of the mid-seventies to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel and advance the use of indigenous, renewable biomass fuels. The information contained in this document is the result of the tests performed by Primenergy under this co-funded effort and additional privately funded research.
Poultry litter is comprised of bedding material and bird droppings.
As a potential biomass energy source, litter would initially appear to be a good candidate. However, the chemistry of the droppings present some unique combustion problems. One of the primary soil nutrients in the droppings is phosphorus. If the litter is burned at the elevated temperatures of an incinerator, phosphorus is released, forming phosphate salts and phosphoric acid. Both of these chemicals cause significant metal deterioration and fouling in heat recovery boilers, thus rendering litter an unacceptable fuel source in conventional steam generation equipment.