North Haven, CT (September 6th, 2019) – Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) announced today it has been awarded a U.S. Department of Agriculture Small Business Innovation Research (USDA SBIR) Phase I grant to develop a new technology to reduce indoor ammonia levels in broiler poultry facilities. Ammonia from chicken manure harms both chickens and farm workers, is a significant source of air pollutant, and current control practices can be a serious cost burden for poultry farmers.
PCI’s new high-intensity photocatalytic ammonia reactor offers high-efficiency complete conversion of ammonia to harmless water and nitrogen without NOx formation. The result will be healthier chickens, higher feed yields and poultry weight gains, while reducing farmer costs compared to alternative approaches such as litter amendments, feed modification, and increased ventilation. Complete ammonia elimination also contrasts with other controls that only capture and then release the ammonia into the atmosphere, where it combines with NOx to create the PM-2.5 fine particulate pollution that is so harmful to human respiratory health. PCI’s technology outperforms existing photo-reactors in efficiency and effectiveness at significantly increased flow rates, and is designed to be insensitive to either broiler house dust or humidity levels.
According to Dr. Jeffrey Weissman, the Principal Investigator, “This is an intriguing opportunity for a breakthrough in ammonia control. Our module design is unique, increasing light and catalyst utilization to provide a breakthrough in photocatalytic efficiency. The Phase I project will use bench scale testing to confirm our technology’s ability to completely decompose ammonia in a single pass with no noxious side products, as well as the ability to reduce average indoor ammonia to less than 10 ppm. If successful, in Phase II we expect to work closely with USDA and farm industry experts to mature the technology and conduct a field trial at a commercial poultry facility instrumented for testing including measuring dust, carbon dioxide, humidity, and ammonia.”
President Kevin Burns notes, “America’s broiler chicken industry is a marvel of agricultural productivity, with as many as 55,000 chickens in a single house. Ammonia is a problem. We’re happy USDA selected us to demonstrate the potential in our product to improve chicken and farmworker health while improving industry economics and reducing farm emissions. We’re also involving large industry processors, for both chickens and other animals. Even more broadly, this may become a better way to convert ammonia to water and nitrogen in other air pollution control applications where ammonia contributes significantly to fine particulate formation.”
For more information, contact:
Tony Anderson
Director, Marketing and Business Development
Phone: 203-287-3700 ext. 290
Email: aanderson@precision-combustion.com
