Opportunities and Barriers to Bioenergy Conversion Techniques and Their Potential Implementation on Swine Manure

Mahmoud A. Sharara and Sammy S. Sadaka
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Mahmoud A. Sharara: Biological Systems Engineering Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Sammy S. Sadaka: Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, Division of Agriculture University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-26

Abstract: The objectives of this article are to offer a comprehensive evaluation of the opportunities and barriers for swine manure conversion technologies and to shed light on the gaps that might require further investigation to improve the applicability of these technologies. The challenges of manure management have been propagated alongside the global growth of swine production. Various technologies that target the production of energy, fuels, and bioproducts from swine manure have been reported. These technologies include pretreatments, i.e., drying, and solid separation; biological techniques, i.e., composting, anaerobic digestion, and biodrying; and thermochemical techniques, i.e., combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, liquefaction, and carbonization. The review highlights the yields and qualities of products, i.e., energy, gaseous fuel, liquid fuel, and solid fuel, of each technology. It exhibits that the choice of a conversion technology predominantly depends on the feedstock properties, the specifics of the conversion technique, the market values of the end products as well as the local regulations. The challenges associated with the presented techniques are discussed to ameliorate research and development in these areas. The notable finding of this paper is that there is a need for full-scale research in the area of thermochemical conversion of solid-separated swine manure.

Keywords: swine manure; biological conversion; anaerobic digestion; composting; biodrying; thermochemical conversion; combustion; gasification; pyrolysis; liquefaction; carbonization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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