Can cow poop be used to make methane fuel?

Question

Giant feed lot operations in the midwest produce a $hitlaod of $hit from cows and steer every year. it is all dumped into underground lagoons. Can this be turned into a alternate source of energy. And would it be cost effictive?

Answer 1

Yes, the scenerio depicted in "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" was true in theory. Any organic material like food or poop can be used to generate methane.

If given sufficient oxygen, bacteria will oxidize hydorcarbons like sugars, proteins and fats to carbon dioxide and water. But if there is not enough oxygen (like under the mud of a swamp, in a landfill, or a septic tank) then the bacteria power themselves off the "food" and produce methane.

Can you heat your house off your septic tank. No. You might make 1% of your energy needs and it wouldn't be worth the bother.

Can anyone make useful energy by generating methane from waste? Yes. A lot of landfills extract methane and run engines on it and produce eletricity. Often they are forced to in order to reduce methane emisssions or explosive hazards but they do produce tens or hundred of kilowatts at a large landfill.

Cow poop to methane? The only place cows are concentrated are at a feedlot. Their focus is on making skinny range cattle into fattened cattle for slaughter in a few weeks. They want to get rid of the manure quickly and devote their attention to the core business. Energy prices would have to rise a lot to interest them in the process.

Hog, chicken, turkey and other CAFOs (concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are denser, stinkier sources of poop. The winning play there might be that sequestering away the manure to make methane also cuts down the smell A LOT and that keeps the neighbors happy. But until enough states and countries ban current-practice CAFOs, most will go with what they've always done, IMO.

-David
Kenai, Alaska

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Yes, if you do a bit of research. There is an ice rink in Sartatoga, NY that is run on the horse poop from the race track. Now if you ask me, this is win-win. My understanding is the town built the rink, but have not put in 1 penny for the compressors or electricity. I was also told that the track was paying to get rid of the horse poop and now they pay the town to remove the poop, I was told that this money is used to haul the poop and maintain the rink.

I would say this is cost effective.

Answer 4

Biomass gasification, a century old technology, is viewed today as an alternative to conventional fuel. In the gasification process, wood, charcoal and other biomass materials are gasified to produce so-called "producer gas" for power or electricity generation. Gasification systems consist of a gasifier unit, purification system and energy converters - burner or engine.

A modern example for biomass gasification is located in Strem near Güssing, Burgenland, Austria.

So to be short... Yes cow poop can be used to make methane fuel...

Answer 5

Yes ... there was a story on the news about that the other night .... they're already making it, and working on a way to make it more productive. A couple cars have already been converted. They said it has a huge potential to lessen our demand for oil.

btw .... the car's exhaust is odorless

Answer 6

yes