Slaughterhouse Wastes: a Review on Regulations and Current Technologies for Biogas Production

In recent years the use of waste biomass for energy generation is becoming an increasingly attractive opportunity, since it leads to several advantages, such as the possibility to eliminate wastes producing energy. As a consequence, the dependence on conventional fossil fuels and global warming can be further reduced. Animal By-Product (ABP) represents a waste produced especially during the slaughter of animals for human consumption, disposal of dead animals and disease control measures. ABPs disposal could lead to high costs and risks for the ecosystem: hence, they shall be used in a sustainable way, minimising health and environmental risks. In the present work, the use of Slaughterhouse Wastes (SHWs) in Anaerobic Digestion (AD) process has been investigated. In Europe biogas production from SHWs must comply with the Regulations No 1069/2009 and No 142/2011 which are carefully described in this study. Furthermore, some previous surveys on AD and co-digestion of ABPs with/without other substrates have been considered and compared in order to fix a starting point for future tests on this subject.