Thermogravimetric Analysis of Swine Manure Solids Obtained from Farrowing, and Growing-Finishing Farms

Mahmoud Sharara, Samy Sadaka

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Little Rock, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/jsbs.2014.41008                

Abstract

The modern trend of increasing the number of pigs at production sites led to a noticeable surplus of manure. Separation of manure solids provides an avenue of their utility via thermochemical conversion techniques. Therefore, the goal of this paper was to assess the physical and thermal properties of solid separated swine manure obtained from two different farms, i.e., farrowing, and growing-finishing, and to determine their pyrolysis kinetic parameters. Swine manure solids were dried and milled prior to assessing their properties. Differential and integral isoconversional methods (Friedman, and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa) were used to determine the apparent activation energy as a function of the conversion ratio. Significant differences were observed in the proximate, ultimate composition between both manure types. The higher heating value (HHV) for the manure solids from farrowing, and growing-finishing farms reached 16.6 MJ/kg and 19.4 MJ/kg, respectively. The apparent activation energy computed using Friedman and FWO methods increased with the increase in the degree of conversion. Between 10% and 40% degrees of conversion, the average activation energies, using Friedman method, were103 and 116 kJ/mol for the farrowing and growing-finishing manure solids, respectively. On the other hand, the same activation energies, calculated from FWO method, were 98 and 104 kJ/mol, for solid manure obtained from farrowing and growing-finishing farms, respectively. The findings in this study will assist in the effort to optimize thermochemical conversion processes to accommodate swine waste. This could, in turn, minimize swine production impacts on the surrounding ecologies and provide sustainable energy and biochar streams.

Keywords

Manure Solids; Thermogravimetric Analysis; Pyrolysis; Isoconversional Methods

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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