Power From Poop: Putting Manure to Use
Discovery Channel News, July 24, 2008

"Researchers have identified a climate-energy win-win, but it may put
them in deep doo-doo.

That's what happens when you study poop for a living. Michael Webber and
Amanda Cuéllar of the University of Texas at Austin estimate that
digesting all of the nation's livestock manure to produce methane to
burn for energy could supply more than 2 percent of the country's
electricity needs. The pair's work is published today in Environmental
Research Letters.

Meanwhile, the process would avoid the greenhouse gas emissions created
by burning the equivalent amount of coal, and it would prevent the
release of the super-potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide
released by normal manure degradation, allowing for a double-whammy of
greenhouse gas reduction.

The combined savings could reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from
electricity by about 4 percent.

The proposed approach would send the manure to anaerobic digesters where
microorganisms would produce biogas rich in methane that could be
captured and burned for energy, releasing the less-potent greenhouse gas
CO2. The remaining solids could be used for fertilizer.

This approach would reduce other problems associated with manure ponds,
including odor, air pollution, and water pollution from runoff or
groundwater contamination, Webber said.

Webber agrees that not all animals are kept in conditions where it would
be easy to collect the manure. Large feedlots would be the best starting
point. But his analysis provides an upper limit for what might be
possible, he said."

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/24/manure-poop-energy.html

See the complete article:

A.D. Cuéllar and M.E. Webber (2008).
Cow power: the energy and emissions benefits of converting manure to
biogas. Environ. Res. Lett. 3/3 (8pp).
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/1748-9326/3/3/034002

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