Investigation of a preliminary ventilation energy-recovery system for poultry houses

•An energy-recovery system for poultry houses was designed and tested.•13.5% of the energy used for ventilation fans could be recovered.•The reduction of GHG emissions is estimated to be 3.01gCO2eq/egg∙year.•The system energy and GHG payback time is 3.36 years and 1.17 years, respectively. New and renewable energies are being applied in the field of livestock farming in order to reduce the increasing energy demand and to some extent provide potential alternative profits for producers. In this study, a preliminary ventilation energy-recovery system for poultry houses was investigated. The air flow that generated by the ventilation fans was accelerated by a flow-convergence configuration and the wind turbine located at the outlet of the flow tunnel was applied to recover the energy together with other electronic components. A maximum of 270W power output from the wind turbine was steadily recorded for this small-scale experimentally-oriented system recovering 13.5% of the energy used for ventilation. Meanwhile, about 2074kWh renewable energy per year could be produced by the system, accounting for about 10.2% of total energy requirement for poultry farming and reducing approximately 3.01gCO2eq/egg∙year greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, a 3.7% reduction of volumetric ventilation rate was also observed due to the additional pressure load from the wind turbine and no apparent difference in the power consumptions of ventilation fans was found. Furthermore, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was also performed in order to quantify the impacts of applying this system on the environment during its lifespan from ‘cradle to grave’. It was demonstrated that the energy and greenhouse gas payback time were 3.36 years and 1.17 years respectively, demonstrating a ‘green’ and environmentally-friendly system considering the lifespan of the system was 20 years. This study suggests new ideas for the future design of poultry houses combining renewable energy and power generation technology, which is technically and environmentally feasible.