Production of Biogas from Poultry Droppings using Anaerobic Digestion

The increasing demand for renewable energy sources highlights the need for optimizing biogas production. This study investigates the potential of poultry droppings as a substrate for biogas generation, focusing on the influence of temperature and pH variations on yield as key bacterial species involved were characterized. Anaerobic digestion was conducted using poultry droppings over seven weeks retention periods using the water displacement method, while temperature and pH variations were monitored throughout the study.. The highest biogas yield was recorded at week 2 (14 days) with 535.00±70.50 mL, while the lowest yield was observed at weeks 3 and 4 (21–28 days) with 0.00 mL. The highest temperature was recorded at week 6 (42 days) with 41.71±0.64°C, and the lowest at week 4 (28 days) with 30.20±2.78°C. The lowest pH was observed at week 2 (6.15±0.462) after digestion, indicating acidogenesis, while the pH stabilized in the later weeks. Microbial analysis revealed Bacillus subtilis (35.71%) as the most dominant bacterium, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (21.42% ) each, while Shigella species had the lowest occurrence with 7.14%. The results indicate anaerobic digestion of poultry droppings can yield significant amounts of biogas, particularly during the second week of retention.