ARS | Publication request: Plant nutrients and bioenergy via a new quick wash procedure for livestock manure

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 15, 2009
Publication Date: January 15, 2009
Citation: Cantrell, K.B., Szogi, A.A., Hunt, P.G., Vanotti, M.B., Ro, K.S., Bauer, P.J. 2009. Plant nutrients and bioenergy via a new quick wash procedure for livestock manure. In: Proceedings of the National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference, January 3-5, 20009, San Antonio, Texas. p. 1238-1244. CDROM.

Technical Abstract: While livestock manures offer great potential to provide nutrients for cotton, most manures are unbalanced in nitrogen and phosphorous. Recovery of significant amount of phosphorous (P) from manure provides a more environmentally safe application of the manure to land as well as the opportunity to transport excess P off the farm in a concentrated form. A treatment process called “quick wash” was developed for extraction and recovery of P from poultry litter and animal manure solids. The remaining washed manure solids can be used to produce energy via anaerobic digestion. Here, the methane potential from anaerobic digestion can be estimated by stoichiometric modeling. Alternatively, it can potentially be converted to energy via emerging thermochemical conversion technologies. Both traditional anaerobic digestion and thermochemical conversion technologies offer opportunities for energy production from the washed manures. The potential for methane production was not affected by the “quick wash” process. Under pyrolysis, the washed poultry litter had greater mass loss indicating an improved feedstock for synthesis gas or pyro-oil production. Under aerobic combustion, the washed poultry litter when compared to the unwashed litter was more energy dense (6600 vs. 6890 Btu/lb) and allowed for a more uniform release of heat.