DRYING AND PELLET CHARACTERIZATION OF SAND-SEPARATED DAIRY MANURE FROM STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS, USA Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2018, ALKI Kft., Budapest, Hungary. Concentrated animal feeding operations often result in tremendous amounts of animal manure that can become a major problem to both the business and the environment. This study aims to propose an alternative use of manure for local energy generation. Dairy manure with final moisture contents ranging from 0% to 15% at 5%-interval were prepared using a bench-type convection dryer inside a SHERER Environmental Chamber. The dried manure was sieved and then was pelletized using an extruder connected to an MTS Test System. The drying and physical characteristics of sand-separated manure pellets were investigated as a potential energy fuel. The average drying rate within the 20-h drying period was measured to be at 0.025 kg moisture removed per kg of dried sample-hour. The manure pellets have 716 kg/m3 71.6 kg/m3 bulk density with total carbon content of about 24.25% 3.27%. Removal of sand from the raw manure sample increased the heating value from 3.29 MJ kg-1 to 10.20 MJ kg-1. Sand-free manure has better elemental and fuel characteristics compared with sand-mixed as received manure from dairy farms. The resulting pellets can withstand 1.12 kilogram-force (kg-f) to 1.80 kg-f at 5-10% MC, which can be a candidate bioenergy fuel in terms of its over-all elemental and durability properties.

published proceedings

  • APPLIED ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

author list (cited authors)

  • Alcaraz, J. M., Baticados, E. J., Capareda, S. G., Maglinao, A., & Nam, H.

citation count

  • 3

complete list of authors

  • Alcaraz, JM||Baticados, EJ||Capareda, SG||Maglinao, AS Jr||Nam, H

publication date

  • January 2018