Pyrolysis characteristics and kinetics of chicken litter.

Chicken litter generally consists of a mixture of bedding, manure, feathers and spilled food. Flock of birds litter (flock) is a litter consisting of hardwood shavings, feed, feathers and manure; and broiler litter (broiler) is a cake of chicken litter. A kinetic investigation of the pyrolysis of chicken litter (flock and broiler) was carried out using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at heating rates of 5 degrees C/min, 10 degrees C/min and 20 degrees C/min. Most of the materials decomposed between 270 degrees C and 590 degrees C at each heating rate. The region of decomposition of flock and broiler was slightly lower than that of the wood chips. Wood chips (bedding material) decomposed in two stages, while flock and broiler decomposed in three stages. Apparent activation energies increased from 99 to 484 kJ/mol for the three samples when the pyrolytic conversion increased from 5% to 95%.