Owing to the increasing demand for poultry meat and egg products, poultry production is growing worldwide.Poultry production generates large quantities of litter, which consists of a mixture of manure, waste bedding, and food, as well as feathers. The reported amount of poultry litter generated per bird over the production cycle ranges from 1.5 to 5.7/kg of litter/bird (Dalólio et al., 2017).
Conventional Practices
Generally, poultry litter is directly used as a fertilizer, but it has a high potential for the loss of N and P through leaching, which can lead to the eutrophication of water bodies and contamination of groundwater. In addition to that the spreading of fresh poultry litter on the land can result in the emission of nitrous oxide, which is a potent greenhouse gas and can affect humans and animals through pathogen contamination.
Biogas Technology
The alternative strategies for litter management include anaerobic digestion and composting. Anaerobic digestion of the poultry litter can be used to produce biogas which can be used as fuel in biogas gensets for electrification of the farms and cooking purposes, thus nullifying the dependencyon the power from the grid and LPG cylinders.
Based upon estimates, with the country’s poultry population of 28.6 million and availability of poultry waste of 1,575.5 million kg per year, the biogas yield would be 116.6 million m3/year. This can generate 648 GWh of thermal energy per year. If the thermal energy is converted into electric energy, assuming a 15 percent conversion loss in the conversion of thermal energy to electric energy, approximately 550 GWh of electric energy can be obtained annually.
Different state govt.’s has imposed laws for monitoring the disposal of poultry litter and waste management in the poultry farm as setting up incinerators for the incineration of dead birds.
Koshish Sustainable Solutions, an initiative by a team of young and dynamic professionals from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), with more than 10 years of cumulative experience, one of the leading players in Biogas Plant manufacturing, which is majorly working on promoting sustainability, have set up biogas plants across more 10 states of India, This company is Headed by Dr. Ratnesh Tiwari a Doctorate from IIT – D, having worked on different biomass-based renewable energy systems and different sustainable development programs sponsored by both national and International Agencies.
The technology involved in biogas production is simple and can be implemented cheaply and efficiently by employing small-scale digesters that are easy to use and maintain.
These biodigesters can offer benefits to all spheres of society but are more beneficial to poultry farms. They can use the gas produced for cooking, running biogas generators, and fertilizing crops with the residual waste or sell them.
The combustion of biogas provides a clean source of energy, as it does not produce soot, like firewood. This helps reduce indoor air pollution, which in turn prevents respiratory infections and associated diseases. It can be a good alternative to LPG which is getting costlier.
Biogas plants not only help in processing the litter but also the dead birds can be digested andsignificantly curb the greenhouse effect: the plants lower methane emissions by capturing this harmful gas and using it as fuel. Biogas generation helps cut reliance on the use of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, the most important of its many advantages is that biogas can offer a decentralized energy solution.
Economic Viability
Generally setting up Biogas plants is considered expensive, to promote and support sustainability, Govt. of Inda is supporting by providing subsidies for setting up biogas plants, which may range from 25000 to 5cr and the payback period of a biogas plant is generally considered to be 3-4yrs. Besides supplying energy and manure, provides an excellent opportunity for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and reducing global warming and thereby earning carbon credit, which in turn can be encashed on ayearly basis, thus making biogas plants economically viable.
Waste to Value
Reduction of Energy Cost
Poultry farms can recover heat and energy from waste. Biogas can run an on-farm electric generator and reduce your electricity costs and the gas generated can be used for heating purposes.
Bio-Fertilizers
Poultry farm digesters are rich in organic nutrients as N. P and K and will be in dry form which can be packeted and sold as biofertilizers. The revenue generated by the sale of the biofertilizer can be on par with the general sale of poultry meat and eggs.
Biogas as CBG
If the biogas produced from poultry waste is considerably high, it can be further purified to CBG, which is equivalent to CNG and can be used in vehicles or filled in cylinders and sold to restaurants and other industries.
A biogas plant in a poultry farm with 50000 birds, can generate about 550 kWh of electricity each day, thus help the farm nullify the dependency on the power grid and save around Rs. 1925000/- annually. The poultry farm will get Rs. 24 lakhs as subsidy from the Govt. Of India to run the plant and can claim carbon credit of approximately Rs. 3lakhs annually, in addition the manure if sold Rs. 5/ kg (Approx. 26000 kg/yr.) from the digester can generate a revenue of Rs. 13 Lakhs annually.
Thus, poultry litter management can be efficiently handled which can help the farm owners benefit economically and fall in line with the different laws imposed by the pollution control board.
