Sustainable recycling of poultry litter to value-added products in developing countries of South Asia

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze four different poultry litter conversion technologies including fast pyrolysis (FP), slow pyrolysis (SP), anaerobic digestion (AND), and aerobic digestion (AD) in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis has been used to analyze these technologies comprehensively. The environmental performances of these technologies have been reviewed based on the previously published works. The economic analysis of these technologies has done by calculating plant-based payback period and gross profit. The results show that FP, SP, and AND technologies outperformed the land disposal method in both economic and environmental aspects. FP involved the highest investment but shortest payback period while AND process was feasible in technical, political, and environmental aspects with a longer payback period. The current policies in these countries have been analyzed, and it could be concluded that they do not use the poultry waste effectively. As these countries mainly focused on biological conversions and neglected the thermal technologies. The findings of this study can provide effective insights for policymakers to draft poultry waste-related policies for achieving sustainable and carbon-neutral valorization of poultry litter.