Stephanie Lansing, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmentl Science & Technology is leading two UMD studies on transforming poultry manure into energy.
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
(The following article appeared in The Diamondback on Wednesday, September 24.)
Merriam-Webster defines its more vulgar adjectival form as “petty, insignificant” and even “lacking courage, manliness, or effectiveness.”
But make no mistake, two separate university projects aim to make something valuable and productive out of the manure of chickens.
Recent grants from Maryland Industrial Partnerships, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, approved $4.7 million for 18 projects from teams around the state, including eight from this university and five involving the conversion of chicken manure to energy.
“We’re taking waste and being more sustainable with the resources we have,” said Stephanie Lansing, an environmental science and technology professor and the leader of the two university studies on chicken manure. “People just want to throw it away or flush it down the toilet, but you have to think, ‘Wait a second, this is carbon, this is nutrients, this is a resource.’”
One project uses thermal gasification by burning chicken litter at a high temperature and low oxygen concentration for a pure burn that produces synthesis gas, which can be used as a fuel for generators.
The other project uses microbes to digest the litter, breaking break down the carbon and producing methane-rich biogas, which can be used for heating, cooking and electricity.
“Waste energy is the direction we need to be going in the future,” said Anna Kulow, a first year environmental science and technology graduate student. “Energy is something we need. We should make use of what we have instead of throwing it away.”
The two projects have both received grants through MIPS as part of the Innovative Technology Fund. Usually, MIPS brings university researchers together with funding from start-up companies, said Ronnie Gist, the associate director of MIPS. Companies will contribute $2.4 million and MIPS will contribute $2.3 million with additional funding from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute press release.
This Innovative Technology Fund is a partnership with the state’s natural resources department, which decided to put special emphasis on helping the Chesapeake Bay this year by focusing on projects relating to chicken manure, Gist said.
In recent decades, researchers have discovered excessive nitrogen concentrations in the bay. This is caused partly by runoff from farms using nitrogen-rich manure as fertilizer, and the result is an increase of algae and an inhospitable environment for fish, Kulow said.
Click here to read the remainder of this article in the Diamondback.
