In broilers poultry house, fuel-based heating systems are commonly used to
maintain the targeted temperatures for successful breeding of chicken. A considerable
amount of fuel is consumed for this application, which leads to high running cost and
contributes to the increase of air pollutant emissions. To investigate the economic
feasibility of using solar energy as a substitute for the heating of poultry houses, a case
study is conducted on a poultry broiler house located in El-Menia in Egypt. The
location is selected based on the controversy foreseen due to the availability of high
solar radiations versus the low fuel prices and absence of tax credits in Egypt. The case
study includes the technical and economic study for a solar heating system (SHS) and
the integration of biogas produced from chicken manure as an auxiliary source of heat.
The heating demand is calculated hourly over a complete year using TRNSYS
simulation tool. Accordingly, a SHS is designed to cover part of this demand besides a
fuel based auxiliary source. The two main design variables of the SHS are the area of
the solar collector and the volume of the storage tanks. An economical study of the
SHS is carried out, where the net present value is calculated. The calculation is
performed using the Egyptian and international fuel price.
Keywords: Bio-digesters, Biogas, Case study, Chicken manure, Economic study,
Egypt, Energy, Fuel saver, Heating, Infiltration, Latent heat storage, Life cycle
savings, Net present value, PCM, Poultry, Renewable, Simulation, Solar, Solar
collectors, Storage tanks, Target temperature, TRNSYS.
