Nutrient, Carbon and Salt Release From Poultry Litter Biochar.

The concentration of poultry operations in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia has led to a situation where continued land application of poultry litter is becoming unfeasible because soil test phosphorus concentrations in agricultural soils are too high. In contrast, soils in the western part of the state are phosphorus poor. Transport of poultry litter to other parts of the State is not economically feasible. Poultry litter biochar is one potential solution to this problem. The heat generated by litter pyrolysis can be used to offset heating costs for poultry houses and the resulting biochar has a smaller volume and mass. One potential problem with poultry litter biochar is that the salt content is very high. Our objective was to determine the content and release characteristics of P, K, Ca, Na and dissolved organic carbon from a commercially produced poultry biochar.