Used Cooking Oil—a Viable Option for Heating Poultry Houses

by Blake Garner, Alabama Mountains, Rivers and Valleys RC&D Project Manager, Decatur, AL

The Alabama Mountains, Rivers and Valleys Resource Conservation and Development Council (AMRV) has been a leader in developing innovative solutions to natural resource and rural community problems for over thirty years. Helping push the use of used cooking oil for heating poultry houses is just another successful project.   

There are over 14,000 poultry broiler houses in Alabama, with approximately 80 percent of these being in North Alabama. The industry produces over $1.1 billion annually, which is a substantial part of Alabama’s economy. With the rising cost of petroleum based products (such as natural gas and propane), fuel prices are taking a big toll on the overall profitability of Alabama’s poultry farms.

With a grant funded by ADECA’s Energy, Weatherization, and Technology Division; and Program Manager Kathy Hornsby’s guidance, AMRV RC&D has seen success in using used cooking oil to heat poultry houses. This project helped demonstrate the effectiveness of used cooking oil as a heat source, while evaluating the production aspects between alternative energy and conventional systems.

When this project began in June 2005, farmers were paying an average of $1.25 per gallon for propane, but used cooking oil could be secured for $.91 per gallon.  Used cooking oil generates 27,000 to 30,000 more BTU’s per gallon, or 130 percent more BTU’s than propane.  When burned in conjunction with the ventilation tube system, the heat is more effectively distributed throughout the poultry house, thus consuming less energy. Also, microbial analysis showed virtually no difference between the demonstration house and the control house. In this demonstration the experimental house litter was shown to be drier, have less ammonia, and the same pH as the control house.

There were also some problems that were encountered in the scope of this project:

• During the coldest months used cooking oil tends to gel in the holding tanks. We learned that the farmer can mix used motor oil with it or use a pre-heater in the tank. Another possible solution would be to connect the oil tank area to the poultry house so heat from the poultry house could be used to minimize gel formation.
• Some of the current suppliers of used cooking oil do not deliver “small” quantities, such as those required by a poultry farm. The key is for the farmer to contract with local restaurants to pick up their used oil, so both parties are winners.
• Use of used cooking oil for bio-diesel production is increasing.  The price of used cooking oil has risen to $1.35 per gallon, so a contract with local restaurants is much more important for the farmer

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