First commercial power plant fuelled by poultry litter

Dutch utility company Delta NV began operating its 36.5 MW-per-year biomass power plant fuelled by poultry litter in Moerdijk, Netherlands, in September. Construction of the power plant began in August 2006, costing €150 mln ($207 mln).

The facility is expected to convert 440,000 mt (490,000 t) of poultry litter into more than 207 mln KW-hours of electricity each year, absorbing approx. one-third of Netherlands’ excess manure stocks. According to Peter Couwenberg, Delta’s press officer, the facility will produce enough electricity to power approx. 90,000 homes annually.

Duurzame Energieproductie Pluimveehouderij (DEP), a cooperative association of 629 poultry farmers, will supply litter to the facility, with about 70% of the litter to be sourced from the southern part of the country. Couwenberg said the country’s poultry industry produces approx. 1.2 mln mt (1.3 mln t) of poultry litter annually. Before the power plant was built, 800,000 mt (882,000 t) of the product had to be exported each year for processing.

DEP will deliver poultry litter to the power plant. Here is incinerated to produce steam, which will power a turbine, creating electricity. Gases released by the incineration process will be purified before they are released into the atmosphere. Ash material rich in phosphorus and potassium is created as a byproduct of the production process, and sold for use as fertilizer.

 

 

Delta NV (Dutch)