Energies 2017, 10(12), 1935; doi:10.3390/en10121935
Prospects for Increased Energy Recovery from Horse Manure—A Case Study of Management Practices, Environmental Impact and Costs
Department of Building, Energy and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, Kungsbäcksvägen 47, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 29 September 2017 / Revised: 3 November 2017 / Accepted: 20 November 2017 / Published: 23 November 2017
Abstract
A transition to renewable energy sources and a circular economy has increased interest in renewable resources not usually considered as energy sources or plant nutrient resources. Horse manure exemplifies this, as it is sometimes recycled but not often used for energy purposes. The purpose of this study was to explore horse manure management in a Swedish municipality and prospects for energy recovery. The case study includes a survey of horse manure practices, environmental assessment of horse manure treatment in a biogas plant, including associated transport, compared to on-site unmanaged composting, and finally a simplified economic analysis. It was found that horse manure management was characterized by indoor collection of manure most of the year and storage on concrete slabs or in containers, followed by direct application on arable land. Softwood was predominantly used as bedding, and bedding accounted for a relatively small proportion (13%) of the total mix. Anaerobic digestion was indicated to reduce potential environmental impact in comparison to unmanaged composting, mainly due to biogas substituting use of fossil fuels. The relative environmental impact from transport of manure from horse facilities to anaerobic digestion plant was small. Results also indicate a relatively high cost for horse keepers to change from composting on site to anaerobic digestion in a centralized plant. View Full-TextKeywords:
horse manure; horse keeping; bioenergy; anaerobic digestion; nutrient recycling; systems perspective; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); ORWARE; global warming potential (GWP); cumulative energy demand (CED); costs; bedding
▼
Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Hadin, Å.; Hillman, K.; Eriksson, O. Prospects for Increased Energy Recovery from Horse Manure—A Case Study of Management Practices, Environmental Impact and Costs. Energies 2017, 10, 1935.
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
Related Articles
Article Metrics
Comments
[Return to top]
Energies
EISSN 1996-1073
Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
RSS
E-Mail Table of Contents Alert