EVALUATION OF BIOGAS PRODUCTION

FROM ANAEROBIC BIODIGESTION OF

POULTRY MANURE DILUTED TO 1:10, WITH
SEPARATION OF SOLIDS AND USING
RECYCLE

A. SAGULA*, J. LUCAS JR**, L. V. C. COSTAº, S. B. MONTOROºº

* São Paulo State University, UNESP-FCA, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil

** Department of Rural Engineering, São Paulo State University, UNESP-FCAV,
Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil
ºAraraquara University, UNIARA, Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil
ººSão Paulo State University, UNESP-FCA, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil

SUMMARY: The poultry litter generated in the productive process of the birds demonstrates
great potential for obtaining energy with the use of biodigesters, however is need able to
facilitate the process, such as separation of solids. The objective of this work was to evaluate
the biogas production in the anaerobic biodigestion process of the poultry litter with solid
separation, with and without the use of 40% recycle in a semi-continuous supply system. The
total solids reductions were 41.58% for non-recycle treatment and 52.64% for the 40% recycle
treatment. The biogas production in 35 days of treatment without recycle and with 40% of
recycle in the input substrate was 1.0917 m3 and 1.01181 m3 of biogas, respectively, with no
significant difference. It can be concluded that the use of recycle in the process of anaerobic
biodigestion with poultry litter, does not interfere with the production of biogas, which can be an
alternative for the poultry farmers to save water in the washing of the sheds and to produce
electric energy, from the biomass of the generated in the production of chicken meat.

1. INTRODUCTION

Brazil has an abundant source of renewable energy, which can be derived from all organic
matter produced by humans and natural activities, including industrial waste, urban solid waste,
forest residues, as well as agricultural residues (WANG & KESHWANI, 2009; NOGUEIRA,
2014)
With the current poultry production in Brazil, large quantities of poultry litter are produced,
material that is currently used as fertilizer in the agricultural sector, inadequately. However,
there is concern by environmentalists that the uncontrolled use of avian litter as fertilizer can
cause pollution of the rural environment with the release of odors and gases such as methane
and carbon dioxide (NEITZKE, 2010).

Proceedings Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium/ 2 - 6 October 2017
S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy / © 2017 by CISA Publisher, Italy
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017

The production of poultry litter is defined by several zootechnical parameters of poultry:

characteristics of the confinement modules, management of production lots, lighting system, air
conditioning system, water supply system and feed distribution system. All these factors
contribute to the final production of the poultry and the amount of moisture in it (BALDIN, 2013).
The anaerobic conversion of organic materials and pollutants is an established technology
for the protection of the environment through the treatment of waste and wastewater, and the
anaerobic biodigestion of agricultural residues has proven to be a good method for obtaining
renewable energy, besides reduce the impact of emissions of greenhouse gases released from
untreated waste. The final product resulting from biodigestion is biogas, a mixture mainly of
methane and carbon dioxide, produced when the anaerobic bacteria degrade organic matter
(MASSÉ et al., 2010; NOGUEIRA, 2014).
The biodigestor of semi-continuous operates with daily supply and with fractional loads,
being able to be one or more times to the day. Depending on the organic matter to be supplied
in the biodigester, it must be diluted before being placed in the biodigester or if possible even
crushing, as it avoids clogging and crust formation inside the biodigester. According to Neitzke
(2010), the technical viability of anaerobic biodigestion of poultry litter is a fact, but this
validation has not been observed by poultry farmers as a process to treat this residue.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Description of the experiment

For the experiment, 10 semi-continuous biodigesters and gasometers were used, made of
rigid PVC, which have a useful capacity of 60 liters of substrate in fermentation and installed
outside the laboratory. The chicken bed used in the experiment is a fourth reuse composed of
peanut shells, from a conventional shed located in the municipality of Monte Alto - SP.
For the execution of the test, a completely randomized design was used, with two treatments
described in table 1, containing five replicates and all treatments were done with solids
separation.

Table 1. Description of the treatments

treatments
CF1:10 Dilution 1:10 Poultrylitter + water
CFR1:10 Diluição 1:10 Poultry litter + water + 40% recycle

For the start, each biodigester was supplied with 60 kg with a substrate containing poultry
litter and water, with solids separation and dilution of 1:10.
After seven days the CF1: 10 substrate was prepared, containing 10 kg of poultry litter and
90 kg of water, which was ground and sieved. The biodigesters were filled with 2L of the CF1:
10 substrate daily, after seven days the preparation was repeated and the loads performed
normally, this process lasted for 30 days. After 30 days of daily loading of the CF1: 10
treatment, the preparation of the treatment with recycle CFR1: 10, containing 10 kg of poultry
litter, 54 kg of water and 36 kg of recycle was started, this quantity contained the proportion of
40% of I recycled the water, and the CF1: 10 treatment continued to be prepared with 10 kg of
poultry litter and 90 kg of water.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017

2.2. Laboratory Analysis

For the determination of the total and volatile solids contents, the tributary and effluent
samples of the CF1: 10 and CFR1: 10 treatments were added in pre-weighed aluminum
crucibles, weighed to obtain the wet weight (Pu) of the material and then, Which were taken to
the stove with forced air circulation, at a temperature of 65ºC until reaching constant weight and
then cooled in a desiccator and weighed again in a scale of 0,01 g, obtaining the dry weight
(Ps). The total solids content was determined according to the methodology described by Apha
(2005). In order to determine the volatile solids content, the dry materials obtained after
determination of the total solids content were weighed in porcelain crucibles and heated to 575 °
C for 2 hours and after cooling in a desiccator, the materials Were weighed in a scale with an
accuracy of 0.0001 g, obtaining the ash weight. The volatile solids content was determined
using the methodology described by Apha (2005).
For the calculation of the biogas production, reading was performed according to the
accumulation in the gasometer. The reading consisted in measuring the height assessed in a
ruler attached to the gasometer, which moved vertically. After each reading, the gasometers
were zeroed using the biogas discharge register. The correction of the biogas volume for the
conditions of 1 atm. At 20ºC, was performed based on the work of Caetano (1985), where by
the compressibility factor (Z), the biogas presents behavior close to the ideal. To evaluate the
composition of the biogas produced, analyses were performed based on the levels of methane
(CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Biogas samples will be taken from the biodigesters weekly
during the whole experimental period, using plastic syringes of 10 ml volume. The
determinations will be made on a SHIMADZU GC 2010 plus Tracera chromatograph equipped
with ShinCarbon ST Micropacked columns, using helium as the entrainment gas. The
calibration of the equipment was done with the standard gas containing 55.4% of methane,
35.1% of carbon dioxide, 2.1% of oxygen and 7.7% of nitrogen.

2.3 Statistical analysis

The data obtained for the reduction of volatile solids, biogas production in m3, potentials of
m3 of biogas per kg of bed of chicken, substrate of added ST of SV were submitted to analysis
of variance by the GLM procedure of the SAS program version 9.1 (2003) and the means
compared by the Tukey test at a significance level of 5%.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Total and volatile solids level

Table 1 presents the mean values of the concentration total solids and volatile solids in mass
and percentages, at the beginning and end of the anaerobic biodigestion process and the
volatile solids reductions in (%).
By means the proportion of total and volatile solids, it can be observed that there was a
decrease in (%), indicating that the anaerobic biodigestion process promoted the reduction of
organic material added to all treatments evaluated. This reduction is related to the stabilization
of the system and the adaptation of the anaerobic microorganisms to the environment.
Table 2. Values of total and volatile solids by mass and by percentage, volatile solid
reductions in the evaluated treatments.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017

Total Solids (%) volatile solids (%) Total Solids (kg) volatile solids (Kg) 1
Tratamento RED VS,%
input output input output input output input output
CF1:10 4,9669 3,5756 3,5416 2,1566 0,0993 0,0715 0,0708 0,0431 41,58 B
CFR1:10 6,5542 3,8063 4,6599 2,2017 0,1310 0,0791 0,0931 0,0440 52,64 A
CV (%) 9,08
1reductions volatile solids, Averages followed by the same capital letter, Do not differ by the Tukey test at 5%.
CV = Coefficient of variation

Evaluating the reduction of volatile solids, we can observe that two treatments presented a
reduction of approximately 41.58% for the treatment CF1: 10 and 52.64% for the CFR1: 10, this
result found in this research demonstrate that the recycle promoted a better reduction of volatile
solids.
Costa (2009) in his experiment using poultry litter diluted with swine biofertilizer in batch
biodigestors, obtained results of reduction of volatile solids of 60.99 and 67.20%, respectively, in
the treatments with recycle and without recycle.
The values of reduction of lower volatile solids found in this work, in comparison with the
author, can be explained by the hydraulic retention time, which in this work was smaller than the
author.

3.2 Production, biogás potential and quantification of methane and carbono dioxide

Table 3 demonstrate the biogas production and parameters of biogas potentials and
methane percentages. The biogas production averages evaluated for the 35 day period in which
the biodigesters were supplied with 40% recycle, the results obtained were 1.0181 and 1.0917
m3 for the treatment CF1: 10 and CFR1: 10 respectively.

Table 3. Production and potentials of biogas

Parametros CF1:10 CFR1:10 CV(%)

m3biogás 1,0181A 1,0917A 12,13

3 1
m /kgts 0,2918A 0,2380 B 9,35
3 2
m /kgvs 0,4091A 0,3346B 9,35
3 3
m /kg subst. 0,0145A 0,0155A 12,03
m3/kg PM4 0,1454A 0,1559A 12,13
methane (%) 51,10 A 54,10 A 9,55
Means follow ed by the same letter in the line do not differ from each other (P> 0.05).
1
kgts= Kilograms of total solids, 2 kgvs= Kilograms of volatile solids, 3
kg subst= Kilograms of substrate e 4
kg CF= Kilograms of Poutry Mmanure
CV = Coefficient of variation

The biogas production and the parameters of biogas potentials and methane percentages
shown in Table 1, demonstrate that there was an increase in biogas production and methane
concentration of the CFR1: 10 treatment in relation to CF1: 10 during the 31 days of evaluation,
allowing us to perceive that the recycle, besides decreasing the use of water in the process
generates a larger production of biogas with more better quality.
Tessaro et. Al. (2015) presented in its experiment mean values of (0.4106 ± 0.0128), (0.3264
± 0.0243) and (0.0804 ± 0.0023) m³ biogas per biomass in the treatments (poultry litter +
Biofertilizer + water); (poultry litter + biofertilizer) and (poultry litter + water), respectively. Silveira
(2014) obtained values of 0.023, 0.027 and 0.032 m3 * kg-1 of biomass for poultry litter with
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017

three different percentages of dilution with water. It can be observed that the production of
biogas with the poultry litter has several factors that interfere with a greater or smaller
production of biogas, an important factor is, how many times the poultry litter was reused, the
greater the reutilization, more organic matter there will be in its composition.
The CFR1: 10 treatment obtained the higher percent of methane with 54%, due to the fact
that the poultry litter has ammonia and also particles of lignified materials, which are difficult to
break down, which interfere in the process of In the methanogenic phase.
According to Seadi (2008), the Gas-Otto engines are developed specifically for the use of
biogas. In accordance with Otto principle and motors (thin burners motors) are operated with
excess air in order to minimize emissions of carbon monoxide. This leads to lower gas
consumption and lower engine performance, offset by the use of a turbocharger exhaust. Otto
gas engines require biogas with a minimum content of 45% methane, and in this work, we
obtain methane contents above that described by Seadi (2008) in the CFR1: 10 treatment with
54% methane.
Figure 1 represents the production of cubic meters of methane, we can observe that the
treatment with recycle was the one that obtained greater production of methane, demonstrating
greater energy efficiency compared to treatment with water.

0,0250

0,0200
m³ de Metano

0,0150

0,0100

0,0050

0,0000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Dias

CF:10 CFR1:10

Figure 1. Methane production

Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017

Figure 2. Biogas production

Figure 2 demonstrate the biogas production for the 31 days of supply with 40% recycle in the
substrate, replacing water. It's can observe that in the first days of supply the recycle caused a
drop in the production of biogas and after five days there is an increase in the biogas production
in the treatment with recycle, remaining the biogas production slightly superior to the treatment
CF1: 10.

4. CONCLUSIONS

The use of recycle did not negatively interfere with the production of biogas, being indicated
its use for the dilution of the poultry litter, besides avoiding an expense with potable water. The
inclusion of recycle improved the reduction of volatile solids and the quality of the biogas.

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