The Blue Flame boiler was installed by Total Energy Solutions on Windview Farm in Snyder County, PA, in 2015 as a demonstration project for the Farm Manure-to-Energy Initiative. This technology has the longest track record for using poultry litter as a fuel in the Chesapeake Bay region.
The boiler installed in 2015 was designed to deliver 1.5 to 2.0 MBtu/hr of heat to poultry housing via hot water. It replaced an earlier Blue Flame boiler that had been running on the farm for several years and improved the hot water distribution system.
The Farm
Windview Farm, owned by Mac Curtis, produces antibiotic-free broiler chickens. Since 2010, he has been using a boiler manufactured by Blue Flame to generate heat from the 400 tons of poultry litter that are produced on the farm every year.
Performance Evaluation
The Blue Flame boiler was evaluated for technical, environmental, and financial performance. An overview of the findings is available in the main body of the 2016 Final Report. Details are in Appendix D.
The report includes an evaluation of air emissions from this and other systems, as well as the potential for transporting and marketing the ash co-product as a crop fertilizer.
Related: Introduction to Thermal Technologies…
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This case study was funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the USDA, U.S. EPA, and Chesapeake Bay Funders Network. The views and conclusions contained in materials related to the Farm Manure-to-Energy Initiative are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of NFWF, the USDA, U.S. EPA, or Chesapeake Bay Funders Network. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement by project funders.