CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Poultry litter is a heterogeneous mixture that contains bedding materials, antibiotics, dead skin, feed scraps, water, feathers and the resulting microbiota from poultry production cycle. Although its treatment does not receive attention, it is an important organic resource generated in the north-east region of Santa Fe Province since animal primary production is one of the main economic activities there and in the whole country. The objective of this work was to analyse the economic and energy aspects and the environmental impact of two different waste treatment scenarios (by two-stage vermi-composting system) and compare them to; on one hand, the current regulated practice for waste final deposition (landfill) and on the other hand, a base line scenario, which describes the current situation, where the raw material is transported and spread over the field as bio-fertilizer. The scenario construction was based according to on-site data, lab-scale experiments previously published and software databases. The environmental study was carried out with life cycle assessment; and the energy study, using cumulative energy demand methodology and the energy balance. Based on the results, it was possible to affirm the importance of the integrated agricultural waste treatment to address environmental benefits, especially related to the base line scenario. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the two proposed treatment alternatives. Economic and environmental results were contradictory when no long-term socio-economic consequences are considered. Waste vermi-composting strategies reduce the organic matter and nutrients content not only to avoid discharges into the environment, but also to replace the fossil fuels consumption during unsustainable techniques as sanitary landfill.

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