Nigerian Scientists Turn Chicken Droppings and Weeds into Biofuel

Chicken is a favorite, inexpensive meat across the globe. However, its production results in a lot of waste. One approach for dealing with poultry waste is to turn it into biofuel, and now scientists have developed a way to do this by mixing the waste with another environmental scourge, an invasive weed that is affecting agriculture in Africa, Mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia).

Nigerian researchers, led by Samuel O. Dahunsi of Landmark University performed anaerobic co-digestion of Tithonia diversifolia with poultry droppings. Results revealed that eight kilograms of poultry waste and sunflowers produced more than 3 kg of biogas, more than enough fuel to drive the reaction and have some leftover for other uses. They also said that the residual solids from the process could be applied as fertilizer.