Onsite CO2 generation for poultry stunning

An apparatus for stunning an animal with an exhaust gas mixture, comprising:

• a stunning chamber located at a processing site to contain therein as many an animal selected to be stunned;
• a combustion chamber located at the processing site for combusting a mixture of gases to provide therefrom an exhaust gas mixture comprising carbon dioxide for stunning the animal in the stunning chamber;
• a flow skid located at the processing site upstream from and in fluid communication with the combustion chamber for receiving gaseous oxygen, air, natural gas or propane for providing a proportion of each of the gaseous oxygen, air, and natural gas or propane for the combustion mixture to be provided to the combustion chamber;
• a heat exchanger located at the processing site downstream from the combustion chamber to receive and cool the exhaust gas mixture before the exhaust gas mixture is delivered to the stunning chamber;
• and
• a compressor or a blower located at the processing site downstream from and in fluid communication with the heat exchanger to receive the exhaust gas mixture for delivery to the stunning chamber.