Farmers look to pig poo to boost revenues

[busenbust]

Farmers look to pig poo to boost revenues.

In essence, vast quantities of animal waste are mixed with lots of grass in a cylindrical tower - "basically a 3,000 tonne cow's stomach," says Mr Hart.

Bacteria then breaks down the mixture, producing methane, which is siphoned off, cleaned and filtered.

Mr Hart has bet heavily on the success of his new biogas plant

This gas is then used to power what is effectively a £200,000 Mercedes truck engine, which in turn powers a generator, electricity from which is fed into the National Grid.

A by-product of the process is large quantities of fertiliser that remain in the tower once the bacteria have worked their magic.

The heat generated by the process is also captured and used for central heating at the farm house. It is, then, in renewable-energy speak, an efficient 'closed-loop' system.

And the benefits to the farm are both numerous and substantial.

But it's not just Mr Hart's business that benefits from the plant.

Methane is about 20 times worse than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and so is widely recognised as one of the more potent greenhouse gases.

By capturing the methane produced by the waste generated by his 4,000 pigs, 100 cows and 100,000 chickens, Mr Hart expects to reduce his equivalent carbon footprint by about 10,000 tonnes a year. That's the equivalent of almost 9,000 return flights from London to New York.

He is also using far less fertiliser, which can be fairly carbon intensive to manufacture.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13941458

 

[rock hard]

Well ain't that some shit??!! :clap:

 

[TheOrangeCat]

Good shit!

 

[Member442]

I saw a show in PBS I think it was a year ago now about some farmer doing the same thing. It's cool.

 

[tartanterrier]

I've read some shit before but that takes the biscuit :eeew:

 

[gunslingingbird]

I've heard that if we collected all the methane produced by cows in the US we would cut our dependence on oil by some ridiculous amount like 50%.

 

[RichardNailder]

I've heard that if we collected all the methane produced by cows in the US we would cut our dependence on oil by some ridiculous amount like 50%.

Finally an appropriate job for LurkingDirk - collecting cow poop :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

 

[gunslingingbird]

Finally an appropriate job for LurkingDirk - collecting cow poop :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Actually, it's more bottling cow farts than collecting cow poop. That would be a job for baconsalts. :eeew: