A $3-million pilot project to convert chicken manure into energy as part of a program sponsored by the Maryland Department of Agriculture and Biomass Heating Solutions Inc. (BHSL) of Ireland is officially producing electricity.
The project uses the energy generated by the system to provide heat for new chicks or to run air conditioning systems to cool the four chicken sheds at the farm during the summer months. Bob Murphy, the farmer who owns the Double Trouble Farm where the project launched, noted that the early impact of the project has been what he described as significant in terms of lower humidity and ammonia levels in the chicken house.
Maryland contributed nearly $1 million to launch the project in Dorchester County in November of 2014 with a goal of establishing greater sustainability systems that also could reduce pollution from chicken waste. The equipment also produces fertilizer, making the entire process a closed-loop system, according to the BHSL website.
“I hope this pilot project is the start of a broader initiative to turn poultry manure from a potential pollutant into a viable source of energy,” said BHSL Chairman Dennis Brosnan.
Maryland produces an estimated 300 million chickens annually and along with the 1 billion chickens produced in the general Chesapeake Bay area makes up about 12 percent of the annual U.S. production.
