Anaerobic digestion of chicken feather with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge for biogas production

Biogas production from anaerobic digestion of chicken feathers with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge was assessed in two separate experiments. Ground feathers without any pre-treatment were added to 42-L digesters inoculated with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge, representing 37% and 23% of total solids, respectively and incubated at 25 °C in batch mode. Compared to the control without feather addition, total CH₄ production increased by 130% (P < 0.001) and 110% (P = 0.09) in the swine manure and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters, respectively. Mixed liquor NH₄N concentration increased (P < 0.001) from 4.8 and 3.1 g/L at the beginning of the digestion to 6.9 and 3.5 g/L at the end of digestion in the swine manure and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters, respectively. The fraction of proteolytic microorganisms increased (P < 0.001) during the digestion from 12.5% to 14.5% and 11.3% to 13.0% in the swine manure and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters with feather addition, respectively, but decreased in the controls. These results are reflective of feather digestion. Feather addition did not affect CH₄ yields of the swine manure digesters (P = 0.082) and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters (P = 0.21), indicating that feathers can be digested together with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge without negatively affecting the digestion of swine manure and slaughterhouse sludge.