Just south of Seaford, the world’s largest chicken manure pelletization plant has processed about 60,000 tons of chicken manure since it opened in July, 2001.  The plant was designed as a solution for poultry farmers in the area who needed to remove waste from their facilities.  Most had no option but to spread it on fields according to their Nutrient Management Plan or store it in special leak-proof structures.  Perdue Farms, Inc. understood how critical this problem was and researched different methods of ridding the area of the excess manure.  Perdue considered building an incinerator (an idea that was abandoned due to emissions restrictions) or a composting facility (which proved to have too many logistical problems).  The pelletization plant, which handles manure from both Delaware and Maryland, was chosen because the waste could be transported easily before and after processing and it produced a marketable product.  After an investment of $13 million from the company, and a grant from the State of Delaware, the plant was built to handle up to 95,000 tons of manure a year.

The original strategy of the plant was to create a “recycling” effect; as feed is transported to the Delmarva Peninsula’s poultry farms from the Midwest bread basket, the pelletized waste is distributed from the Peninsula back to the grain farms for fertilizer.  David Ennis, Perdue's General Manager of Production and Administration, explains, “It’s estimated that 600,000 tons of manure are generated on the Eastern Shore… and only maybe half can be applied to land according to the Nutrient Management Plans.  Perdue is primarily concerned with moving some of that volume off the peninsula.”

The collection program typically begins when a grower in the region contacts the plant and is introduced to the process.  Growers from all companies, Mountaire, Allen’s, as well as Perdue, are encouraged to participate.  Mr. Ennis even admitted to recruiting growers in areas of nutrient problems, saying “We’re trying to focus on the Inland Bays region.”  It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, where Perdue contracts the clean-out and transport of the waste to a third party at no cost to the growers, and the plant is supplied with lots of material for fertilizer (one chicken house generally supplies 200 tons of manure per year). Once the truck (one of about 10 that visit per day) arrives at the plant, it is driven directly into a large, completely enclosed holding area. Only when the doors to the outside are closed is the truck unloaded.  The negative air pressure of the plant sucks in air from the outside, preventing the escape of any dust or particulates.  The air inside is completely changed and cleaned with special scrubbing technology 9-10 times per hour.  After the manure is broken down by a smashing machine, it moves to a heating chamber which is 10 ft in diameter and 40 ft long.  The chamber's drum rotates, spinning the waste through a 650`F heat stream, dehydrating and pasteurizing it.  Afterwards, the material can be as hot as 180`F, killing any remaining bacteria and fungus.  The product is then ground through a coffee-grinder-like hammer mill and mixed with raw steam.   Water for the steam, which recovered from earlier processes.   Any extra is put through additional scrubbers to burn off nutrients and then sold to private agricultural companies for land application.   Plant managers would like to improve upon that.  "We’d like to be totally independent for our water needs, and we’re still trying new methods to make that happen”, Mr. Ennis explained.

Perdue Microstart60 fertilizer

Once the product is a mixture of waste and steam, it is mashed through small holes to form the useable shape of a pellet.  The resulting pellets are primarily for large-scale agricultural operations and are packaged in one-ton containers.  Perdue recently installed another grinder, in order to break down the pellets into a smaller size, which is more commercially applicable to lawn and garden uses.  Most pellets are sold directly to operations and farms, with smaller granules being sold to retail companies, who package and market the product.  Two of these companies are the Maryland Environmental Service, which sells Fertile GRO and Pure Barnyard, which sells Cockadoodle DOO.

The transportation from the plant is either by truck or by railway cars.  Its location right off the Norfolk Southern mainline and within 100 miles of 2 deepwater sea ports, Wilmington and Norfolk, allows for easy access to domestic and foreign markets.  Perdue Agri-Recycle product is shipped to Canada for use on Golf courses, South Africa for catfish feed and Mexico for vegetable and fruit fertilizer.

When Perdue was searching for a site to build their plant, they faced heavy opposition from some local land owners.  The company agreed to buy several adjacent parcels in order to create a buffer, and have now enrolled most of their property in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) which is a cost-share program to encourage land owners to leave land in forests.  Many people were worried about the odor associated with manure and the emissions that could be created from the dehydration process.  After over 18 months of production and $3.5 million spent on environmental upgrades, the plant has had very few complaints and a lot of cheers.  "We have fulfilled our promise that we won’t smell or pollute” said Mr. Ennis.  "We are doing a valuable service by ridding the region’s growers of a lot of additional nutrients and preventing it from polluting the water.”

If you would like to organize a tour of the plant, please contact Dave Ennis at (302) 628-2371.