Environmental
Added Value Eggs
While producing nutritious, high quality eggs for the mid-Atlantic region, Hillandale Farms’ integrated environmental management system transforms millions of pounds of manure annually into renewable energy and useful byproducts, reducing the release of nutrient pollutants to the Chesapeake watershed by over 90%.
BACKGROUND
Even though laying hens are one of nature’s most efficient sources of protein and nutrients for a healthy diet, production of eggs is accompanied by nearly equal weights of manure that must be managed.
Too much of a good thing:
Laying hen manure is valued as a soil amendment and plant fertilizer. However, manure must be held in storage for seasonal planting and quantities often exceed the need for nearby crop production.
Environmental impact:
During manure storage, ammonia and greenhouse gases are released and dust, odors and pathogens create potential health risks to nearby communities. Also, a mismatch between the nutrient content of land applied manure and the nutrient needs of crops increases the potential for surface runoff of nutrient pollutants.
Hillandale’s solution:
As a solution to environmental and public health concerns associated with excess manure, Hillandale Farms has partnered with the EnergyWorks Group to create an integrated system to sustainably produce eggs at its Gettysburg, Pennsylvania complex without the need for manure storage and land application. The system capacity allows participation by smaller egg producers that meet Hillandale’s standards and protocols for food safety, animal welfare, worker welfare and environmental responsibility. These eggs are sold to the region’s businesses, institutions, and consumers as Clean Water Eggs® or using another value-added environmental descriptor according to retailer / buyer preference.
Drone view of Hillandale-Gettysburg egg production complex with manure treatment plant in the foreground.
WHAT WE DO
The Hillandale-EnergyWorks system prevents nutrient pollution, generates renewable energy, and produces circular use byproducts. Other benefits of the system include water conservation, greenhouse gas reductions and limiting environmental nuisance and health risks to nearby communities. Advanced sensor and information technologies enable real-time monitoring of these benefits and provide sustainability outcome transparency to wholesale buyers, supply chain partners, consumers, and others. It costs a bit more to achieve these benefits, but buyers agree that it is worthwhile.
THE BENEFITS/SUSTAINABILITY ATTRIBUTES
During long-term storage and land application of manure, emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are produced by natural decomposition of organic materials. These greenhouse gas emissions are avoided by the Hillandale-EnergyWorks system. Also, since manure carbon is derived from atmospheric carbon (CO2) absorbed by annual grain crops, renewable energy generated by the process is carbon neutral (CO2e-neutral), displacing energy from hydrocarbon fuels.
Nutrient pollutants cause rapid algae growth that leads to oxygen depleted “dead” zones within the Chesapeake Bay. The Hillandale-EnergyWorks manure treatment system prevents over 90% of manure nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from entering the environment. At its design capacity, the system can provide approximately 10% of the total nutrient reductions needed to meet Pennsylvania’s goal to help achieve federal standards for “fishable and swimmable” water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to preventing nutrient pollution, the manure treatment system’s “zero liquid discharge” design helps preserve the quality of water in nearby streams.
Ammonia is both an air and water pollutant. Uncontrolled releases of ammonia gas cause fine particulates, a respiratory health risk, while depositions on land and water surfaces contribute to algal growth and dead zone formation. Within the manure treatment system, most of the ammonia is captured and upcycled as a fertilizer product; the rest is transformed into non-polluting nitrogen gas (N2). By eliminating long-term storage and land application of manure, the release of volatile organic compound (VOC) pollutants and greenhouse gases are also reduced. Local air quality benefits are included in the discussion of Environmental Equity outcomes.
A proprietary gasification system converts manure solids into combustible synthesis gas that is used to generate heat energy and up to 3,240 kilowatts of renewable electricity. Heat drives the solids conversion and generated electricity is used to power lights and equipment at the manure treatment and byproduct processing plants and the Hillandale egg production complex. Generated electricity exceeding onsite demand is exported to the local electric distribution grid. Renewable energy credits (RECs) are sold under a long-term contract with a regional electric utility.
An air-cooled condenser removes waste heat from the manure treatment plant’s power generation system, minimizing ground water use and avoiding thermal contamination of local ponds and streams. Internal treatment systems maximize reuse of treatment plant process water. Treatment plant wastewater is collected and shipped offsite for regulated disposal by a licensed contractor. Wash water from Hillandale’s egg production process is used for seasonal crop and pasture irrigation or trucked to a municipal treatment facility during winter months.
The manure treatment plant separates non-synthetic nutrients and minerals in concentrated forms that minimize logistics costs and enable upcycling for commercial use. An adjacent formulation and granulation plant blends and formats up to 50 tons/day of treatment plant byproducts for the creation of high-performance animal feed ingredient and plant fertility products. Upcycled feed ingredient products allow multiple- rather than single-use inputs to food animal production. Upcycled, sustained release soil amendment and soil fertility products can be precision applied in accordance with 4R fertilizer practices (right source, right rate, right time, right place) for optimum crop production, resource conservation and nutrient pollution prevention.
Effective circular use conserves valuable nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrient resources that are lost as environmental pollutants due to inefficiencies inherent in land application of unprocessed manure or in an unblended manure product form that does not balance nutrients to match plant needs.
The environmental justice of nearby community residents is enhanced by the elimination of nuisance and potential public health risks associated with long-term storage and land application of manure.
- Daily manure collection minimizes storage inventories and disrupts the reproductive cycle of common houseflies and other insects without the use of chemical pesticides.
- Reduced storage inventories eliminate habitat for rodents and reduce the potential for spread of dust, odors, and pathogens.
- The manure treatment plant is equipped with features to control air emissions and operates under the stringent requirements of an Air Quality Permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Capture and destruction of ammonia reduce public exposure to the chemical and particulate respiratory hazards of ammonia. Process equipment enclosures and filtration systems prevent release of dust and other airborne particulates.
- Transformation of raw manure into stable, reduced volume commercial animal feed and plant fertility products, allows transport and precision use with reduced dust, odor, and airborne particulate impact to agricultural workers and residents of rural communities.
- Community science is used to monitor environmental quality and the prevention of public health risks from industrial scale animal production.
The Hillandale-EnergyWorks system is in a region with increasing temperatures and increasing frequency of severe precipitation events. Layer hens are protected by indoor housing with ventilation systems that minimize the effects summertime high temperatures. Routine operations by egg production and treatment plant staff are performed indoors. Extreme high temperatures may cause short term reduction air-cooled equipment efficiencies; however, performance is restored as soon as ambient temperatures return to the range of design maximums. Although severe precipitation events can cause short-term disruption of manure collection and transport, the treatment plant pre-conditioning building maintains an inventory that is sufficient for several days of continuous operation. During this time, the prevention of nutrient pollutants, generation of renewable energy and other described sustainability outcomes continue with little or no disruption.
An integrated Environmental Management System (EMS) uses state-of-the-art sensing and information technologies to monitor and track key indicators of each of the described sustainability attributes. Measurements are analyzed to quantify sustainability outcomes, such as eliminated pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants, tons of greenhouse gas emissions prevented, quantities of circular use byproducts, kilowatt-hours of renewable energy produced, or reduced odor and dust exposure to local communities. This data is synchronized with data from Hillandale egg production systems to link sustainability outcomes with daily egg production. This industry-leading EMS is administered and certified in accordance with ISO 14001:2015.
Wholesale buyers, supply chain partners, regulatory agencies and consumers can view sustainability outcome information by using the QR code found on each Hillandale Clean Water Egg® product carton to access a website dashboard. Nutrient load reductions are communicated directly to Chesapeake regional jurisdictions or the National Environmental Information Exchange Network (NEIEN) according to preapproved protocols.
Hillandale Farms is the nation’s fourth largest shell egg producer with operations in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Midwest. Hillandale’s Gettysburg complex is the largest egg producing complex in Pennsylvania, housing 5-million hens. Visit this video link for additional information about Hillandale Farms’ products and services.
United Egg Producers Hen Care Certification
Hillandale is a UEP-certified producer. UEP (United Egg Producers) is a cooperative of U.S. egg farmers, working collaboratively to address legislative, regulatory and advocacy issues impacting the industry through active farmer-member leadership, a unified voice and partnership across the agriculture community. UEP’s farmer-members work to provide for the health and well-being of their birds; to produce safe, nutritious, high-quality eggs; and to manage their farms responsibly with best on-farm management practices. Producer participation in the UEP Certified program demonstrates a broad commitment to the care of egg-laying hens. UEP also manages the national Egg Safety Center, a leading resource for consumer and industry information on the safe production of eggs and prevention of disease. Formed in 1968, UEP members represent 95 percent of US egg production.
Food Safety Certification
Hillandale Farms earns the highest level of certification by the SQF Institute. SQF stands for Safe Quality Food and is a food safety certification scheme that is recognized internationally by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). Certification is maintained by an annual Third-Party Certification Body audit to ensure that food safety system implementation meets the requirements of the SQF Code.
The EnergyWorks Group operates and maintains the manure treatment plant and partners with Wilson Group Companies (WGC) to produce and market products from the adjacent byproduct formulation and granulation plant.
The US Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs (US-RSPE) and the International Poultry Welfare Alliance (IPWA) operate under the guidance and leadership of a shared board of directors. As a member of the US-RSPE, EnergyWorks collaborates with stakeholders across the complete poultry and egg supply chain to stay connected and participate in the development of technology, innovations, and other factors to promote a sustainable future for society and the industry.
The byproduct formulation and granulation plant is owned and operated by a joint venture between EnergyWorks and ANTG Research & Development, a member of the Wilson Group Companies (WGC), a well-established Virginia-based research and product and technology group with a focus on animal nutrition, fertilizer, and sustainable agriculture. WGC has years of experience developing and commercializing designer fertilizers and animal nutrition products utilizing many technologies developed in-house, such as nutrient release, nutrient granulation and densification, homogeneous formulation, optimization of physical and chemical properties and encapsulation of materials. Granco Minerals, also a WGC member, specializes in the marketing of animal and plant nutrient products and will market the mineral nutrient products from the Hillandale-EnergyWorks system into the agricultural sector.
The manure treatment plant receives daily truck deliveries from Hillandale and its contract egg producers. The manure is screened and dried for optimum downstream process performance then continuously metered into a custom-designed thermochemical reactor. When exposed to the high temperature/low oxygen environment of the reactor, organic manure solids are transformed into combustible synthesis gas that is ducted to a thermal oxidizer where, upon contact with ambient air, auto-ignition occurs, creating products of combustion (flue gas) at approximately 2,000 degrees F. The flue gas is drawn through a heat recovery boiler to produce over 23 million BTU/hr of superheated steam. Part of the steam provides heat to dry the manure feedstock and the rest expands through a steam turbine to generate up to 3240 kilowatts of electricity.
Ammonia is recovered from the dryer exhaust and converted into nitrogen fertilizer. Inorganic solids from the thermochemical reactor and emissions control equipment are transferred to an adjacent byproduct formatting and granulation plant for enhancement and export to animal feed ingredient and soil fertility product buyers.
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