BLACKSBURG, VA. — Poultry poop is a serious ecological problem in Virginia. So is the burning of fossil fuels. So it’s not surprising that environmentalists and farmers are so enthused by a Virginia Tech scientist who is developing technology to turn poultry waste into a safer fertilizer and a biofuel that resembles maple syrup. Staked with more than $1 million in grants, associate professor Foster A. Agblevor, a native of Ghana in west Africa, expects to test his mobile poop reactor this fall at a chicken farm in the Shenandoah Valley, the heartland of Virginia’s poultry industry. The $830 million-a-year industry, the state’s wealthiest agribusiness, has been searching for an environmentally friendly solution to its mountains of chicken and turkey wastes for years. The manure is laden with nutrients, mostly ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as the potential for carrying pathogens and disease. The wastes, known as litter, are linked to water pollution and algae blooms as far away as the Chesapeake Bay and to fears of an avian flu outbreak. Agblevor says his alternative-energy innovation would do away with such biosecurity concerns in the valley and could go a long way toward neutralizing […]