He has the capability to burn all kinds of livestock manure. What he doesn’t have is an established market for the technology.
Mike Robb, owner of the King Coal Furnace Corporation, said he has known for years how swine, poultry and cattle manure can be burned in a stoker to produce cheap heat. But he knows that most livestock producers prefer to dispose of manure by spreading it on their land.
“Nobody will buy this equipment until they’re forced to buy it.”
Robb foresees the day when manure will be burned rather than broadcast on a field. In parts of Canada, environmental laws have already placed restrictions on how to dispose of hog manure.
Read Also
Russian wheat exports start to pick up the pace
Russia has had a slow start for its 2025-26 wheat export program, but the pace is starting to pick up and that is a bearish factor for prices.
Many possibilities
King Coal, based in Bismarck, North Dakota, manufactures a wide range of commercial and residential furnaces that use a stoker and boiler. Robb said the equipment can be modified to burn scores of different materials, including wood, strawboard, manure and flax.
“There are literally nuggets of gold laying on the ground up in Canada, and people can’t even see them.
“If you have a fuel that is combustible, we probably have a piece of equipment that would burn it, or could be modified to burn it.”
King Coal already has an established market niche in Canada. During the past few years, the company has sold coal-burning plants to a dozen Hutterite colonies in Manitoba. Colonies using that system consider it cheaper than other sources of heat when it comes to keeping the winter chill out of their livestock barns.
Robb said he has a contract, backed with support from the United States department of energy, to prove the merits of his manure-burning technology. Pilot projects will be set up in several U.S. locations this year as part of the research. The department of energy will choose the test sites, he said.
Testing under way
Robb has already carted barrels full of manure from Canada to test in his manure-burning equipment. The manure, gathered from Hutterite colonies, burns easily, he said.
Before being burned, the solids in the manure must be separated from the liquids. A process already exists, said Robb, that squeezes moisture out of the manure. It is then a matter of drying the fuel before burning it. Robb said the heat vented through the exhaust stacks of his coal-burning system would offer one way to dry the organic fuel.
“In people’s minds, there’s a big difference between wheat straw and cow manure. But the fact of the matter is, there really isn’t.
“If it has less than 50 percent moisture, we can burn it.”
