EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES IN BROILERS PRODUCTION

Abstract

The increased cost of fuel oil cause an upward pressure on the poultry production sector where heating is vital during the first weeks of operations. The use of renewable energy in poultry brooding is being investigated as it may significantly reduce the energy bills and GHGs emissions in poultry farms. This research evaluates the use of renewable energy in broilers production at the Advancing Research Enabling Communities (AREC), at the American University of Beirut (AUB). The study aims at determining the effectiveness of a solar assisted localized heating system, aided by biogas energy produced from the anaerobic digestion of manure, in heating a poultry house. For this aim, two brooding cycles were conducted during the warm and cold seasons in a conventional and a green poultry house equipped with photovoltaics, solar heaters, anaerobic digester, and a geothermal system. The brooding cycles were replicated in a control house running on conventional electricity.

The results revealed that the green system covered a significant part of the heating and ventilation, but additional heating sources remained necessary. The total energy input in the green and conventional houses were about 34000.50 and 40662.09 MJ, respectively, in the warm season, as compared to 32345.42 and 41069.84 MJ, respectively, in the cold season. As for the energy output it was found to be 20116.23 and 20629.04 MJ in the green and conventional houses, respectively, in the warm season, and 14725.35 and 15681.81 MJ, respectively, in the cold season. In addition, energy analysis study showed more efficiency in consuming the energy in the green system (0.60 and 0.46 in the warm and cold season, respectively) than in the conventional one (0.52 and 0.40 in the warm and cold season, respectively). The results from this study proved that operating poultry houses using renewable energy technologies significantly decreases the energy consumption. The results also suggest that combining several energy sources could provide the total energy needs with a proper system design. Further research focusing on optimizing the green system would ultimately encourage investments in this sector for a sustainable broilers production.