Development of Organic Briquettes from Slaughterhouse Waste as Nutrient Source for Plant Growth

Abstract

A study was conducted to develop organic briquettes using biomass originating from slaughterhouse wastes and to investigate its potential as a nutrient source for plant growth.Dried rumen contents were mixed with fresh blood collected after bleeding of animals in different proportions and dried using tray drier. The dried rumen content-blood (RB) mixture was further mixed with commercially available coir pith in 12 different proportions. The rumen content-blood-coir pith (RBC) mixture was formed into briquettes using a hydraulic biomass briquetting machine. Each organic briquette was 5 cm in diameter and had an average weight of 30-40 g. The treatments were analyzed for pH, moisture content, electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen, carbon: nitrogen ratio, total phosphorus and total potassium. Organic briquette having rumen content with 100 % blood and 80 % coir pith (T10) recorded the highest total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total potassium content. The treatments for plant growth studies were selected based on the criteria that each treatment had highest values for at least two of the three primary nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The treatments T5, T7, T8, T10 and T12 were selected for plant growth studies. Pot experiment using selected briquettes was carried out to determine the effect of selected briquettes on growth parameters and yield attributes of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus).Nutrient release pattern of the selected organic briquettes was also studied. The best desirable growth parameters and yield attributes of okra was observed in T10. Availability of nutrients in the medium were relatively less during first two months of planting (MAP), however, it significantly increased between 3 MAP and 4 MAP, which resulted in better plant growth and fruit yield. The study showed that there is great potential for development of organic briquettes using slaughter house wastes as an eco-friendly process, which are compact, easy to transport and market, and ideal for grow bag cultivation and garden nurseries.

Development of a Novel Helical-Ribbon Mixer Dryer for Conversion of Rural Slaughterhouse Wastes to an Organic Fertilizer and Implications in the Rural Circular Economy

“…Anaerobic digestion, on other hand, a multi-stage biological process, is generally carried out in mesophilic conditions (at 35 • C) for much longer durations (15-30 days) and/or thermophilic conditions (at 55 • C) for 12-14 days [43]. The high proteinaceous matter of blood makes it a problematic substrate for anaerobic digestion [23]. Moreover, implementation of anaerobic digestion in India has recurrently failed in the real field situation due to impractical suppositions on biowaste quality and quantity, miscalculation of the complicated biowaste supply chain, inappropriate anaerobic digestion designs and misjudgment of financial returns from biogas and digestate [44].…”

“…Existing industrial scale drying units such as flash drum dryers, spray dryers, bio drying and fried drying have complicated mechanisms and expensive attachments. The present methods for the disposal of rumen digesta are ensiling and drying by fluidized bed dryer, which entails high processing and operational costs [23]. Therefore, rural slaughterhouses, lacking in facilities, resources and infrastructure, Whereas García-Bernet et al [48] represented a schematic of a drying curve that showed a plot between evaporation flux and mean moisture content for anaerobic digestion, no characteristic curves were reported.…”

“…India has the largest total population of livestock in the world [23]. According to the USDA "Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade" report, India is the fourthlargest producer and domestic consumer of beef in the world [24].…”

“…Approximately 32,000 informal slaughterhouses exist in India [25], while the country has only 3600 legal slaughterhouses [26]. Cattle blood and rumen matter are the only by-products of annihilation that have no monetary value in rural slaughterhouses [23]. It is a common practice of rural abattoirs to openly dump these wastes onto nearby land, and into sewer systems and water bodies [27].…”

“…A low-cost recycling technology for blood and rumen digesta was established by Roy et al [14], where small-scale cook-drying of bovine blood and rumen digesta transformed the wastes to an organic fertilizer named "bovine-blood-rumen digesta mixture" (BBRDM), which could be applied in agronomical practice. Very recently, Sankar et al [23] developed rumen content-blood-coir pith (RBC) mixture which was formed into briquettes and applied in the pot cultivation of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus). Bhunia et al [29] found zinc, manganese, boron, copper and iron abundant in BBRDM along with NPK.…”