Biochar for Chicken Farming

With the fast growth of the human population in the world and in line with the need for food or more specifically protein in the form of meat and eggs, the chicken farming industry has become a heavy burden. The projection of protein demand in 2050 is estimated to increase by 69% and almost half of it will come from chicken farms. The main focus of research and development in chicken farming today is how to meet the protein needs above. And that is only possible by developing new technologies to increase the efficiency of the use of feed nutrients in these chickens.

In 2017, global animal feed production has exceeded 1 billion tonnes for the first time and the livestock industry sector accounts for almost half of it, namely 44% of the total feed production or means more than 440 million tonnes alone. With the growth in world population, there is no doubt that the need for feed will also continue to increase. In addition, there is a real environmental impact on the dependence of soybeans from the United States and Brazil as a source of protein for these poultry or chicken farms. Environmental problems are also getting bigger with the presence of nitrogen compounds from the farm in the water flow and pollution of ammonia gas emissions (NH3). In addition, the use of feed with excessive protein content increases the tendency for disease to occur and increases the need for water by the chickens, which causes the problem of dung to become wet and soggy.

 There has also been an increase in the use of other protein sources as ingredients for chicken feed, such as legume, peas and so on. But currently its use is still limited due to the compatibility of amino acids, mycotoxins and ease of pelletization. Feed pellet technology is a spectacular 20th century invention that continues to evolve today, for more details read here. The use of low protein feed and the high absorption of these nutrients can be a solution to the problem of ammonia pollution. Biochar can be added as a feed supplement (feed additive) to increase the efficiency of the feed conversion. Biochar in the internal body of the chicken will be able to deactivate a number of toxins and activate microbes either in the chicken intestine or improve the digestive system of the animal. This can be indicated by the rapidly increasing vitality of livestock.

Meanwhile, external factors that affect the health and productivity of chickens are the cleanliness of the cage. Feed factors and house hygiene including air circulation are very important to maintain the survival and productivity level of the chicken farm. The more population with a high density of chicken farms, the greater the pressure on disease. The high nutrient or protein content in chicken manure plus humid conditions is an ideal location for a number of germs to breed. In addition, ammonia emissions are also very damaging to the environment because they will form nitrous oxide (N2O), acidifying soil and eutrophication of waters.

The use of biochar as a feed additive and treatment of manure will minimize the two main problems mentioned above, namely livestock health and environmental pollution. In the end, with the health of the livestock is maintained, the level of livestock productivity is also well maintained. The quality of biochar for feed additives is also different from that of manure treatments. This is of course because the main uses and purposes are different. Biochar for the feed additive needs to be designed in such a way that the grade as a feed additive is met, such as by using selected biomass raw materials, modern pyrolysis technology so that control of the production process can be carried out properly from handling to packaging. As for the use of livestock manure treatment, the quality of biochar is lower, including the use of biomass raw materials, pyrolysis technology and so on. For more details, like the diagram below.

 According to a number of studies, adding up to 0.6% biochar in feed increases chicken growth by an average of 17% and it is recommended to mix 0.4-0.6% biochar in the daily feed. Broiler chickens that were given biochar supplements reportedly increased their body weight by 5-10%. If 0.5% of biochar is used as a source of chicken feed additives for world chicken or poultry feed production, the potential need for biochar is 220,000 tonnes annually. And if the chicken manure is used for energy production in the biogas unit, the addition of biochar increases methane (CH4) production and the compost quality of the digestate.     

Biochar to Increase Biogas Production

Charcoal (biochar) is the raw material for the production of activated carbon. The production of activated charcoal itself goes through two main processes, namely carbonization (pyrolysis) and activation. The surface area of charcoal (biochar) is also smaller than that of activated carbon, but larger than the raw biomass. The carbonization process increases the surface area of the raw biomass. The ratio of surface area between raw biomass, charcoal and activated charcoal is approximately 25 m2 / gram, 200 m2 / gram, 2000 m2 / gram. The larger the surface area of the biomass material that is inserted into the biogas reactor, the greater the penetration of bacteria into the substrate so that the fermentation process that occurs is more perfect so that biogas production will increase. Biochar itself does not participate in fermentation because the main component is stable carbon, while hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin have been decomposed during the carbonization process.

Another example is the addition of biomass briquettes to the biogas reactor, briquetting processs with high pressure and heat also open pores or expand the surface of the biomass, so that biogas production also increases, for more details, read here. The addition of biomass briquettes to the biogas reactor will also increase the C / N ratio, even biochar and activated charcoal have high carbon (C) content.

Charcoal (biochar) has been widely used in the agricultural world to repair damaged soil / soil amendment and thus increase fertility. Good soil fertility will also increase agricultural production. The biochar becomes a home for soil microbes, so that organic materials or compost will break down more completely and be absorbed by plants more as plant nutrients. The charcoal (biochar) pores are the home for these microbes. The more pores, the more microbes will inhabit the biochar as their “house”. The same principle applies to the biogas unit. Another bonus of using biochar is that it absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, thereby contributing to lowering the greenhouse gases that cause climate change and global warming.

Research in Germany shows that adding 5% biochar to a biogas reactor increases methane production by 5% - based on the dry matter of biochar to the substrate. But when the amount of biochar became 10%, it turned out that no more methane was added. This shows that the optimum condition for adding biochar is the amount of 5%. The microbes in the biochar increase the volume of microbes in the reactor so that the production of biogas or especially methane also increases up to 5%. Biochar itself is not decomposed in the fermentation process. 

Meanwhile, the addition of biomass briquettes per 1 tonne of briquettes will increase biogas production by 400 Nm3. This is because in the biomass briquettes, both cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin have not been decomposed, thus adding to the substrate in the biogas reactor. Whereas in biochar, both cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin have been decomposed during the thermal carbonization process, so there is practically no additional substrate, but only microbial addition occurs in the biochar pores.

The important thing about the addition of biochar is that the compost or digestate produced is of better quality with the addition of the biochar. Biochar will make the compost which is produced as a slow release organic fertilizer. This further encourages biochar production, especially for palm oil companies that care about environmental issues and even strive for zero waste conditions.

 Palm oil mills have the potential to apply biogas and biochar units. Solid wastes such as empty bunches and mesocarp fiber can be used for biochar production. Palm oil mills can even replace the furnace in the boiler with a gasifier or pyrolyser. This becomes more profitable because in addition to heat energy being used for production of steam which is used for power generation and sterilization of fresh fruit, biochar will also be produced. The biochar produced is then used to increase biogas production and improve the quality of the compost, as well as a fertilizer mixture in palm oil plantations. And even the potential use of biochar to save fertilizer on large palm oil plantations, for more details can be read here.     

Fertilizer Savings in Palm Oil Plantations with Biochar and Compost from Biogas Waste

Although Indonesia is the largest CPO producer in the world with an area of ​​approximately 13 million hectares of palm oil plantations, but it is estimated that less than 10% have a biogas facility from POME (Palm oil mill effluent). Whereas by utilizing POME for biogas production, besides being able to be converted into electricity or heat, it also produces organic fertilizer in the form of compost and liquid organic fertilizer. The compost can be used as fertilizer in oil palm plantations, where the cost of fertilizer for palm oil operations is the highest cost component. It is estimated that every 10,000 hectares costs approximately Rp. 35.75 billion (around US$ 2.25 million) for fertilizer and for more details, you can read here. The use of compost will certainly reduce the need for fertilizer.

Palm oil utilization scheme for optimizing CPO production

Besides that, solid wastes such as palm oil empty fruit bunch, fiber and palm oil frond are also very potential for the production of energy (electricity and heat) and biochar. Energy production in the form of electricity and heat is by burning pyrolysis byproducts in the form of syngas and biooil into the furnace to heat the boiler. And because the syngas and liquid fuels used in the furnace, so that the combustion process is more perfect and clean emissions. Steam generated from the boiler will then drive the steam turbine and generator so as to produce electricity. Low pressure steam from steam turbine is then used for sterilization or boiling the fresh fruit bunches (FFB). While biochar will be used together with compost and chemical fertilizers to make fertilizer effective in the palm oil plantations so that it becomes a slow release fertilizer. Costs for fertilization are also expected to be significantly reduced, for example by up to 50% by this way. Although biochar is not a fertilizer, it has a function that makes fertilizer use effectively because it holds fertilizer nutrients from leaching, for example from rain water, also maintains moisture and so on.

PKS loading for export in Indonesia

PKS (palm kernel shell) can even be sold or exported. This is because previously or in general the palm kernel shells used to fuel boilers with fiber, have been substituted with products from the pyrolysis process namely syngas and biooil. The need for palm kernel shells for both the domestic / local and export markets continues to increase all the time. Palm kernel shells / PKS are environmentally friendly fuels because they come from biomass so they are carbon neutral fuels. The use of PKS as a fuel is widely used by a number of industries starting as a heat source for the drying process such as spray dryers in detergent and ceramic plants, boilers in food industries such as soy sauce factory, to power plants such as in Japan, can be read in more detail here. In the world of biomass fuel commodity trading, especially in the international market, PKS is the main competitor of wood pellets. Although the specifications are not much different, the price of PKS is also cheaper because it comes from palm oil mill waste and does not need complex processing units such as wood pellets. And basically with the scheme of utilizing palm oil mill wastes as above, it will maximize the profit from the palm oil mill or CPO mill.

Large Plantations and Large Farms

Fertilizer problems or soil fertility have always been the main topic or discussion for a large plantation business. This is very reasonable because maintaining productivity of crops can only be done by maintaining soil fertility or providing adequate fertilizer. For this reason, the budget for the supply of fertilizer is always a large portion of the plantation business. Then the condition leads to the question of how to make efficiency or save the fertilizer budget? Of course many techniques can be used for this purpose, but basically the selection or use of fertilizer that is appropriate and the effectiveness or absorption of fertilizer for plants is a key success factor in maintaining soil fertility. Let's try to answer the main question above.

When chemical fertilizers are increasingly abandoned because of their effects which damage the environment, there is no other choice but to use organic fertilizer. In large plantations such as oil palm plantations, basically there are also many biomass wastes from palm oil mills that can be used as fertilizer, such as fronds and palm oil trunks. But when these ingredients are also processed to become a particular product, and also the composting process of fibrous wood species takes a long time, the best choice is with organic manure. The question is where do you get livestock manure compost for the oil palm plantation? Actually there are more sources of organic fertilizer or compost that can be produced from palm oil mill effluent, namely from liquid waste. If the palm oil mill has an anaerobic digester, the biogas residue from the sludge can be used as organic fertilizer. At present there are not many palm oil mills that process liquid waste with the biogas unit, with the reason that the unit is considered expensive.

The history and experience of our predecessors before the use of chemical fertilizers can be used as a reference for this. At that time they were able to meet the fertilizer needs of their agricultural businesses, namely by sheep, goats, cattle and buffalo farming. The livestock manure is used for agricultural fertilizer and agricultural waste is used for animal feed. The basic pattern can also be developed for large plantations with several adjustment techniques to improve efficiency. Technical applications in the field that can be done, namely large plantations must cooperate with large farms or even ideally have a large farm to meet the needs of fertilizer for its plantations. For example, a palm oil plantation that has 10,000 hectares of plantation area, 100-200 (1-2%) hectares are used for sheep farming. The sheep breeding, not by just being caged, but grazing in the fields of pasture.

Why is sheep farming done in the pasture fields? This is because by grazing the cost of feed can be suppressed very large or the business becomes very economical. The biggest cost component of livestock business is feed. If the availability and supply of feed can be overcome then the other components become easier. The pasture is in the form of grass and shade trees. Making grass always available is the essence of the business, even it can be said that the pasture is grass farming itself. Rotational grazing is the best grazing technique at the moment. When the grass is fertilized with sheep dung during the grazing, the dirt produced when in the cage can be used for fertilizer on large plantations such as the oil palm. The biogas unit can be used to optimize the utilization of dirt from the cage.

Basically, sheep farming can also stand alone and also be profitable. Therefore, sheep farming can be done separately. In the case when an energy plantation is used for the production of wood pellets, it is still constrained by various things such as the presence and supply of electricity, so the farm business can still be run properly. The production of large-scale wood pellets in various regions in Indonesia is currently still constrained due to the electricity supply. This will certainly hamper the growth of the wood pellet industry so there needs to be another way to overcome this, which insha Allah will be discussed later.

With this concept, not only increases plantation and meat production, but also a complete closed cycle business that is environmentally friendly and sustainable. Honey bee farming can also be added for optimization because obviously the bees besides helping the pollination process will also produce honey, a superior product of high economic value. Various food problems, insha Allah, can be overcome with this concept. This is because from the production side it can be made very efficient with the 2 biggest cost components being reduced significantly by fertilizer and animal feed with the integration of large plantations and large farms.

Although it has used compost from livestock manure, there are still more techniques that can be applied to improve fertilizer efficiency by using biochar. With biochar, the fertilizer will be retained in the biochar pores so that slow release makes it effective for fertilization. In addition, biochar will also hold the fertilizer from leaching due to high rainfall, so that the use of fertilizer can also be saved significantly. Biochar will also be the home of microbes to decompose organic matter into nutrients needed for plants. So, in short, with biochar, the productivity of plantations is high, but the use of fertilizer is minimal because it is efficient, especially when fertilizer is produced from the farm itself. This biochar can be produced by processing the plantation biomass wastes by pyrolysis. For more details about pyrolysis can be read here.