Dead chickens, the weirdest renewable

Posted by Oil Tycoon

May 22, 2008

United Press International, quoting the Swedish newspaper Vasterbottens-Kuriren, reports that Umea Energi, a Swedish utility, is using chicken carcasses from local egg farms to fuel an existing waste-to-energy plant.

The utility, in far northern Sweden, incinerates waste to produce both electricity and district heat for Umea, a city of 110,000. A company spokesman noted that “chickens are just the right size” for the conveyor belt that fees the plant. The company added that it has plenty of non-poultry fuel for the plant and is taking the chickens as a favor to the egg farmers.

Poultry Power

Dead or alive, chickens — such as this small farm flock hen — may cross the road into renewable fuel territory.

Poultry Power

Although Umea Energi appears to be unique in using chickens as fuel, there is plenty of interest in the U.S. in poultry-related fuels. The 2005 Energy Policy Act includes subsidies for studies of the feasibility of using checken litter as fuel.

According to Physorg.com science web site, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has demonstrated that chicken litter can be gasified to produce hydrogen for fueling a solid-oxide fuel cell. Working at the University of Georgia, and funded by the U.S. bed gasifier at 1,550F to turn litter into low-Btu syngas.

In late 2005, the Associated Press reported that researches at the University of Arkansas have a schmaltzy approach to chicken-based fuel. They have developed a way to convert chicken fat into biodiesel. Chemical engineering professor R.E. Babcock said chicken-fat fuels “burn better, create less particulate matter, and actually lubricate and clean things like cylinders, pistons, and fuel lines.” Chicken fat also is cheaper than soybean oil, the usual source of biodiesel.

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