Companies Make Electricity from Chicken Waste

The phrase "chicken shit" may no longer hold such a negative connotation. Fibrowatt, an offshoot of Homeland Renewable Energy, aims to create power plants fueled by chicken litter, a combination of chicken manure and bedding. If successful, the company could solve one of agriculture's biggest environmental woes — chicken farms produce about 17 million tons of waste every year.

All that waste poses major problems for waterways. Most chicken producers take animal waste and mix it with bedding, then spread the combination on fields to act as a fertilizer. But the phosphorous-rich chicken litter washes into nearby streams, lakes, and other bodies of water, creating unhealthy nutrient levels and oxygen-depleted dead zones. Dead zones decimate aquatic ecosystems. The situation's gotten so out-of-control that environmental groups are pushing the federal government to set limits on chicken litter's use.

And that's where Fibrowatt comes in. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company wants to build power plants that run on chicken litter. The plants would burn the litter to create steam to turn massive turbines. The process would generate electricity for thousands of area homes. Fibrowatt is currently eyeing Georgia, Arkansas, and North Carolina for its chicken waste plants, three of America's top five chicken-producing states.

Fibrowatt's already seen some success with its ventures. The company created waste-to-electricity power plants in the U.K. in the 1990s, and in 2007, it built a Minnesota power plant that runs on turkey litter. Other companies and universities like REM Engineering, North Carolina State University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute are also looking at creating power from chicken waste.

But along with electricity, chicken waste-to-power plants are generating controversy. Critics say that even with the best pollution-control technology, the power plants would emit high levels of pollutants like nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and particulates.

I haven't seen enough data to determine whether chicken waste-to-electricity plants are a worthwhile investment, both from an economic and environmental perspective. But I'm always encouraged by projects like this because they attempt to redefine what constitutes "sustainable agriculture." Yes, America's farming system needs to switch from huge, industrial operations to small-scale, local ventures using ecologically sustainable farming methods (i.e. no chemicals and fuel-guzzling farm equipment). But as waste-to-electricity plants exhibit, farming has an opportunity to not just preserve the environment, but actually give something back. Farming doesn't have to exist in a bubble—it can benefit America's food supply, but also its other industries. With a little ingenuity and technology, farms can turn their waste into usable products that help decrease the country's reliance on fossil fuels. After all, if folks can turn shit into something as valuable as electricity, the possibilities are truly endless.

Photo Credit: Fir0002 via Wikimedia Commons