Electricity generation from biogas of poultry waste: An assessment of potential and feasibility in Pakistan

The availability of sufficient, affordable and environmentally benign energy is one of the major challenges worldwide. This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of poultry waste for energy generation in Pakistan. The adoption of renewable energy sources is of paramount importance towards the energy security. This paper reports the potential of energy generation from poultry waste. To date, twenty five thousand poultry farms are operating to fulfill the protein demand of the population, which is increasing day by day and a huge amount of waste is produced from poultry farming in Pakistan. The waste generated from poultry farming is estimated and technology for the conversion of poultry waste into biogas is discussed and finally, the electricity generation based on poultry waste is estimated. A 280 MWh/day of electricity can be generated from the biogas produced from poultry waste and this adaptation would be a valuable addition of renewable energy in country existing energy system. Currently, there is a lack of infrastructure in Pakistan to adopt alternate and renewable energy sources. The researcher, businessman, venture capital and Government policies collectively could initiate the renewable energy disposition. Initially, a public-private partnership could be best practice to initiate this technology at the farm level. The utilization of poultry waste for energy generation is feasible and environmentally benign. The Government financial initiatives and technical support under the renewable energy policies is of paramount importance of adoption of this technology in Pakistan.