Exergy Analysis Applied to the Heating Process of Aviaries for Broiler Production in Brazil

Brazilian intensive production of broiler chickens has stood out as an important livestock activity for the country and its main obstacle is the energy supply for birds’ ambience. Analysis of energy conversion processes based on exergy takes into account the quantity and quality of transformed energy. This concept can be applied to the production chain of broiler chickens, contributing to determine the main irreversibility in order to improve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact. This paper reports mass, energy and exergy balances applied to heating of broiler sheds which takes into account the Brazilian specific conditions. From the results it is possible to determine the process losses and suggest solutions aiming at reducing the exergy destruction. Two heating systems were analysed from firewood and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as fuel. The LPG use demonstrates burns with lower CO2 emissions than burning of wood for the same heating demand. Besides, the use of LPG has shown to be more appropriate with smaller irreversibility and less destruction of useful energy in the process.