Dropping power

Researchers at Manchester University have started work on a project to produce power from chicken droppings. The project - supported by The Carbon Trust and Keld Energy - could lead to poultry farms of the future and their local communities being powered entirely by bird droppings.

Academics from the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science (CEAS) are working to develop a small-scale power plant to destroy waste poultry litter, while simultaneously generating electricity and heat to keep growing birds warm.

It is projected that a single plant may be able provide all the heat and a substantial excess of electrical power for the average poultry farmer as well as a bio-secure and environmentally sound disposal route for the poultry litter.
 
These small power plants are being designed so that just one unit could consume all the poultry droppings and bedding litter, while providing all the heat and a substantial excess of electrical power for the average poultry farmer.