An overview on available treatment processes of poultry manure in Malaysia

The poultry industry is a rapidly growing industry driven by consumer demand. Consequently, large quantities of solid waste are generated in the form of manure, feathers, hatchery, bedding materials and abattoir waste. The manure produced is often used raw as fertilizer without any pre-treatment hence, it could become a vector for pathogens and flies as well as contributing to odour problems. Treatment methods using pesticides, microorganisms and daily collection and disposal are normally adopted by the farmers. Advanced techniques such as composting, pyrolysis, gasification and anaerobic digestion are drawing interest due to their ability to convert “waste-to-wealth”. Anaerobic digestion in particular has been gaining favourable attention due to the fact that potential application is independent of variables such as season and geographical location. In 2012, 38,959 tons of poultry manure was produced on average per day in Malaysia. If anaerobic digestion was introduced to treat the poultry manure, 8.95 million m3 biogas could have generated on a daily basis which is the equivalent of up to 323.41 TJ of heat and 89.91 GWh of electricity. This fruitful finding depicts the potential of harnessing renewable, clean energy in conjunction of supporting energy security efforts. This paper comprehensively compares the limitations of the four techniques mentioned earlier and its effects on the ease of operation, performance of the process and environmental conservation.