Study on Warming Piglet in Hog Farm by Combustion Heat Energy of Biogas

Abstract

The biogas in the hog house is the product of anaerobic fermentation from swine wastewater treatment process. It is a renewable energy with very good development potential. Its scope of utilization is versatile, including combustion heat generation, biogas power generation etc. Due to physical trait, the piglets in the pigsty of hog farm are easy to die by catching cold, so it is necessary to keep the pigsty warm, especially at cold weather in winter. The aim of this research is to develop and design a set of biogas combustion hot water system, which can be used to warm the piglets in hog farm. The inclined-type biogas combustion furnace can increase the heating efficiency of water upon combusting biogas. It is also convenient to clear the discard products in the biogas combustion furnace. The hot water can be pumped to the pigsty through the pipe, in order to increase the surface temperature of insulation brick. The piglets can lie on the insulation brick to keep warm, avoid suffering from the dysentery by catching cold. The experimental results show that the surface temperature of insulation brick will be increased with the temperature of hot water by starting the biogas combustion hot water system. Under 0.043 m 3 /min of hot water flow rate, when the temperature of hot water is 45°C, the surface temperature of insulation brick will be most suitable for piglets to lie on the insulation brick for keeping warm. This biogas combustion hot water system can be applied for keeping the piglets warm, which can be used to replace the traditional heat lamp, save the electric energy consumption, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, meet the energy conservation and carbon reduction policy, and comply with the green renewable energy application.