Energy recovery from poultry manure: a viable solution to reduce poultry industry energy consumption

Abstract

As the global energy demand shows a steady growth, the energy framework becomes more restrictive in reference to the environmental impact and judicious use of resources. In this context, energy recovery from renewable waste stands out as a promising technology to deal with large amounts of different wastes while producing energy. This paper addresses the poultry manure waste treatment from the energy recovery perspective. After a brief overview of available technologies for energy valorization of animal manure, the physical-chemical characteristics of poultry manure are investigated through experimental determinations. Further, a case study is presented in reference to the energy recovery potential of a birdhouse with a livestock of 2 000 birds per cycle, located in Southern Romania. The assessment carried out within this research proves that, by locally using the poultry manure as a feedstock for energy generation, the savings in terms of electricity consumption get to 100%. Moreover, it is no longer necessary to store large quantities of waste.