Compaction of poultry litter.

Poultry litter, a combination of accumulated chicken manure, feathers and bedding materials, is a potential feedstock for bioenergy and other value-added applications. The use of this waste product has been historically limited to within few miles of the place of generation because of its inherent low density. Compaction is one possible way to enhance the storage and transportation of the litter. This study therefore investigates the effect of moisture content (19.8-70.7%, d.b.) and pressure (0.8-8.4 MPa) on the compaction characteristics of poultry litter. Results obtained showed that the initial density of densified poultry litter, energy required for compaction and the strength of the densified material after 2 months of storage were significantly (P<0.05) affected by moisture content and pressure applied during compaction. The density of the compacted material was only affected by pressure applied during compaction after 2 months of storage. The specific energy required to produce the densified material varied from 0.25 to 2.00 kJ/kg and was significantly less than the energy required to produce pellets from biological materials. The results obtained from the study can be used for the economical design of on-farm compaction equipment for poultry litter.