title: Updraft gasification of poultry litter at farm-scale--A case study.
abstract: Farm and animal wastes are increasingly being investigated for thermochemical conversion, such as gasification, due to the urgent necessity of finding new waste treatment options. We report on an investigation of the use of a farm-scale, auto-thermal gasification system for the production of a heating gas using poultry litter (PL) as a feedstock. The gasification process was robust and reliable. The PL's ash melting temperature was 639°C, therefore the reactor temperature was kept around this value. As a result of the low reactor temperature the process performance parameters were low, with a cold gas efficiency (CGE) of 0.26 and a carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) of 0.44. The calorific value of the clean product gas was 3.39 MJ m(-3)N (LHV). The tar was collected as an emulsion containing 87 wt.% water and the extracted organic compounds were identified. The residual char exceeds thresholds for Zn and Cu to obtain European biochar certification; however, has potential to be classified as a pyrogenic carbonaceous material (PCM), which resembles a high nutrient biochar.
authors.affiliation: Carbolea Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Taupe
authors.affiliation: Carbolea Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.affiliation: Carbolea Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wnetrzak
authors.affiliation: Technology Centre for Biorefining and Bioenergy, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kwapinska
authors.affiliation: Carbolea Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kwapinski
authors.affiliation: Carbolea Research Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. Electronic address: j.j.leahy@ul.ie.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Leahy
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D000072480:Farms; D005430:Floors and Floorcoverings; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases
keywords: Animal waste; Auto-thermal gasification; Energy recovery; Poultry litter char; Thermal treatment