From poultry farmer to power maker

A plant that generates biogas from poultry litter. Photo: GTZ

KM Hossain revolutionises his poultry farm at Harukandi in Faridpur town; no whiff or odour, and on top of that, he generates about 86,400 KW of electricity per year from the biogas produced in the farm.
Hossain introduced three biogas digesters with de-sulphurisation technique and this gimmick saves him a hefty Tk 1.20 lakh every year. The process removes all foul smell that is common to poultry farms.
He started Raj Poultry Group in 2003 with 20,000 birds. Also, he introduced the science laboratory invented biogas digester plant.
The Sustainable Energy for Development (SED)-Raj pilot project for power generation has been operating smoothly since May 2007. Small amounts of hydrogen sulphide and water in biogas, produced from poultry litter, are removed by using the simple fixed-bed sulphur and water removal process, to protect the engine from any possible damage.
Ever since, about 10 KW of electricity is produced on a regular basis, using two gas engines with 5 KW power gas engines. The engines are adapted for operation with about 110 cubic metres of biogas, which is produced in its three digesters from about 1500 kg of poultry waste every day.
Hossain uses this electricity for lighting 365 energy lamps and fans, two refrigerators, which is used to preserve eggs, and a heating system for his brooding house.
Additionally, Hossain supplies cooking biogas to 25 households. He also uses this gas to bake and run the boiler to boil rice.
The SED programme of German Technical Corporation (GTZ) provided logistic and technical support worth Tk 1.25 lakh to Raj Poultry Group, for pioneering the sulphur and water removal process in the region.
Hossain, a diploma holder in mechanical engineering, worked at home and abroad in a Swedish multinational company for about 22 years. He begins poultry and agriculture on 20 acres of land; with an intention to do something productive from home.
Hossain's approach to work is 'vertical, indigenous and integrated'.
He says, “As our country is small, expanding any project horizontally is tough, that's why I decided to expand my project upwards. Besides, I have undertaken indigenous and integrated technologies, to minimise expenditure.”
Under the integrated approach, he uses poultry litter for various purposes. He separates 40 percent of the undigested maze from poultry waste and uses it as fish food. He farms 10 tonnes of fish a year and earns Tk 2.5 lakh by investing Tk 10,000 only.
He produces both solid and liquid organic fertiliser as a bi-product of biogas generation. He earned Tk 25,000 in 2007 by selling solid organic fertiliser. He himself uses the liquid fertiliser to cultivate paddy, lemon and other seasonal fruits and vegetables in his farm.
He becomes an inspiration to other farmers in the area and creates awareness about using solid organic fertiliser, in contrast to chemical fertilisers.
He also converted his old 7 KW diesel generator to a duel fuel system. The generator can now be run on seventy percent biogas and 30 percent diesel, and this saves him Tk 4000 per month.
Hossain plans to expand his poultry to 40,000 birds by 2009. He also aspires to establish a tiles factory, basing on biogas, in the next six months.
“A financial analysis indicates that this project is commercially viable (pay-back period of about one year) and is, therefore, replicable on a national scale,” says senior adviser of SED programme of GTZ Khursheed ul Islam.
He adds, “If a large number of mid-sized poultry farms adopts this technology, the final impact would be an estimated 25 to 50 MW of power generating capacity that would be available to other grid customers in the country who are facing chronic power shortages.”
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