Investigation of chicken litter conversion into useful energy resources by using low temperature pyrolysis

The global production of poultry is predicted to grow considerably in the future. Intensive poultry farming poses significant challenges to traditional waste disposal methods (i.e. direct land application) leading to environmental impacts. This paper discusses the result of low temperature (350-450 °C) pyrolysis of representative chicken litter as the feedstock. Four different feedstocks comprised of 50% organic chicken manure and 50% bedding materials (i.e. hay, straw, rice husk and wood shavings) have been experimentally investigated. The products of the pyrolysis process consist of char, gas and liquid (bio-oil). Maximum char production from the rice husk mix is over 67 wt.%, while the wood shavings mix feedstock resulted in the highest liquid yield of 44.4 wt.% at a temperature of 400 °C. Chicken litter and its char product are analysed by elemental analyser and bomb calorimetry. The composition of the evolved gases and bio-oil are analysed by micro gas chromatography (µ-GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), respectively. In addition, the mass and energy balance of the pyrolysis process are presented.