Methane Production from Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Poultry Manure

Annually, approximately 400 million tons of wastes have been produced by Iran livestock industry (cattle and poultry) and agriculture sector. This means that an integrated waste management system is really necessary. In the past few decades, large amounts of animal manure and slurries have been produced by animal breeding sector as well as wet organic waste streams, which represents a constant pollution risk with a potential negative impact on the environment, if not managed optimally. When untreated or poorly managed, animal manure becomes a major source of air and water pollution. Nutrient leaching, mainly nitrogen, phosphorus and ammonia evaporation and pathogen contamination are some of the major threats. Animal production sector is responsible for 18% of the overall green house gas emissions. Anaerobic co-digestion of organic matters results in waste stabilization as well as in biogas production. This gas usually contains more than 50% of methane. Therefore, it can be used as a bio-fuel in power generation systems to produce heat and energy. Other Benefits of the anaerobic digestion of animal manure are pathogen reduction through sanitation, improved fertilization efficiency, less nuisance from odors, flies, etc. The feasibility of methane production from poultry manure was studied in the present paper. Thereafter, the effect of loading and temperature on the anaerobic digestion of the mixture of poultry manure and wheat straw was investigated in mesophilic semi-continuously fed digester.