Energy balance assessment on chicken manure for biogas production in Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaïr of Morocco.

Abstract Chicken manure management has grabbed significant attention in Morocco due to the increasing demand on chicken and eggs. Bioconversion of chicken manure to biogas could reduce the chicken manure amount as well as generate clean energy. To evaluate the feasibility of converting chicken manure to biogas in terms of energy gain, the energy balance of the chicken manure for biogas production in the region of Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-Zair of Morocco has been investigated. The result showed that there was an energy gain of 1350 MJ for per tonne of dry chicken manure was converted to biogas. The energy gain increased to 3996 MJ/tonne of dry chicken manure when the wheat straw was added to co-digest with chicken manure. With consideration of converting the obtained biogas for electricity generation, there was extra electricity for sale after subtracting the electricity consumed inside the poultry industry. Comparing with co-firing, pyrolysis, and gasification, chicken manure anaerobic digestion was superior in terms of energy gain.