Carbon Cluck-Char – Advancing Poultry Litter Management with Enriched Biochar for Emissions Capture and Sustainable Fertiliser Production

Poultry farms in the UK will turn mountains of chicken manure and bedding into a carbon-rich fertiliser and energy source, using a high-temperature process called pyrolysis. The problem is straightforward: the UK’s poultry industry produces millions of tonnes of litter each year, which is costly to dispose of and can release ammonia and greenhouse gases. Current management options are limited, and farmers face tightening environmental regulations. This project tackles that waste head-on by converting it into biochar—a stable, charcoal-like material that can capture emissions and improve soil health. If the project succeeds, a poultry farm’s biggest headache becomes a revenue stream. The biochar can be fed into biogas digesters to boost methane production for renewable energy, then spread on arable fields as a slow-release fertiliser that locks carbon in the soil. Automated monitoring tools will help farmers decide when to sell litter for biochar versus other uses. The result is a closed-loop system that cuts disposal costs, reduces emissions, and supports the UK’s circular economy goals in agriculture—a sector where waste-to-value solutions are still rare at commercial scale.