Holy Cow

[restorer]

Just watched a news feature on a process designed and patented by a local university. A truck in experimental stage, a generator and a bio-fuel plant all run on cow manure. Yep, a true methane fuel plant that is practical. They also have a test farm in Idaho that is running the whole farm on poop-o' 6,000 cattle. Not only is it running the farm, but it's tied into the power grid and is ADDing power.

Wow, and I always thought feed lots and dairy farms produce, three things: two are excretions and the other is Flies.

 

[kevinmoelk]

UncleRich, do you have more details? What university was this? Any related media available?

-Kevin

 

[restorer]

UncleRich, do you have more details? What university was this? Any related media available?

-Kevin

Kevin:
Hope the new job's going great

Here's a link to the announcement/news report:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=880185

The school is Utah State University. Seems they have more than manure in mind. The report was they have even processed brewery waste. Leaves a clean non smelling compost material. Wonder if it could be used for pellets?

 

[MrGriz]

Oh No...Don't get Wrench started on another poop as fuel quest.... ;-)

 

[Roospike]

I think this story and this thread is full of chit.

 

[Mo Heat]

Any related media available?

Here's a couple previous discussions we've had touching on recycled methane from dumps and farms.


https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2768/#27705

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2789/ (BeGreen, Did you ever visit this plant? I'm wondering if it ever produced electric or if that dude ended up in jail again. )

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2150/

This is all interesting stuff, but to me the real rabbit out of a hat recycle energy will be several patented processes using an electric arc to create what is known by several names: Aquafuel / Syngas / Magnefuel / Hadronic-chemistry-magnetic-molecular-bonding gases (Trademarked: MagneHydrogen, MagneOxygen, MagneCO, etc.)). I'm still following it, but information is really hard to come by. The only two plants I'm aware of are in Carthage, Missouri and possibly one being built in Toms River, New Jersey.

The Carthage, MO Plant recycles turkey offal (waste guts, etc.) from nearby turkey processing plant(s). It has been shut down several times due to local complaints of offensive smells, but seems to be a legitimate going concern based on local newspaper reports. The plant uses a process that differs greatly from the more commonly known biological reductions of fats into fuels, instead using a plasma arc to create a syngas similar to Brown's Gas in it's creation, but very different in it's properties. Then some type of catalytic process is utilized to convert the syngas into ethel alcohol. Here's the old link at hearthnet if you're interested.

(Sorry, it looks like the Aqua Fuel thread got deleted somewhere along the line, or I can't find it using the search function.)

The New Jersey plant was supposed to be under construction based on news releases dated March of 2006. It was to be partially funded by local governments and was targeted to recycle tires using a plasma arc process. I can't find any newer releases. Anybody know if it ever got built or is recycling tires by now?

 

[homebrewz]

The school is Utah State University. Seems they have more than manure in mind. The report was they have even processed brewery waste. Leaves a clean non smelling compost material. Wonder if it could be used for pellets?

The spent barley from brewing is sometimes fed to livestock at local farms. At least thats what they do at one local brewery. So, I guess it makes its way into the manure project one way or another!

I've used it as a treat for a girlfriend's horse, I've put it in bread, and I've composted it. I've never considered fuel. The mashed and spent grains do dry out nicely. I don't know how hot they would burn as once used in the brewing process, almost all of the starches and sugars have been leeched out of the grains. Binding the grain pieces into a pellet form might be a problem too. Although, if it were to catch on, we would have to encourage more beer consumption to increase the amount of fuel available.

I'll do my part.

 

[begreen]

The Green Power plant is supposed to be up and running at some point this year. I'll try to remember to give Green Power a call on Monday to get the latest poop on poop.

 

[Corey]

They had a 'Dirty Jobs' episode on cow pots and methan from poo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1jvP7BFU14 (part one of 6 or 7)


Incidentally, this video seems like something my mom would do - record the show on the VCR, play it back and record the image on the TV to the cam-corder, then digitize the camcorder! Well, it works!

Corey

 

[Mo Heat]

Poking around for new info on the water to fuel thing, I ran across this video. If nothing else, it explains why it is so hard to get radically new ideas integrated into the mainstream. Scientists, like all other entrenched groups, suffer from their own form of group-think.

(broken link removed to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2464139837181538044&q=ENERGY)

 

[Mo Heat]

Hey Cozy, burn any carbon rods yet?

 

[Corey]

Not yet...I think mixing electricity and water will be a warm-weather experiment. Nothing worse than being cold, wet, and electrocuted.

Corey

 

[kevinmoelk]

Oh No...Don't get Wrench started on another poop as fuel quest.... ;-)

LMAO!

Okay okay, I really don't want to be known as the poop guy, but there's such potential here. Sustainable design is the future in all things. I see future power generation coming from many small scale localized sources. One day we'll have Mr. Fusion!

-Kevin

 

[Rhone]

I'm pretty sure they've been doing this for some time. I met a farmer who sells milk for Cabot cheese some years ago who has a digester is what he called it, creates power for his farm and a dozen or so of his neighbors out of cow manure. The digester kills weed seed in the manure, they bag the stuff and sell it as Moo Doo, people in New England have probably seen it for sale. He said diversifying is one of the things a farmer has to do now to survive.

 

[smirnov3]

The Carthage, MO plant is run by ChangingWorldTech, and it turns turkey gibblets into #2 heating oil with an 85% efficiency.

But to turn a profit, they either need Heating oil to hit $3 a gallon or a tax subsidy. The US isn't interested in paying for that, so they are moving to europe, where they are building 2 plants are in the talking stage for 10 more.

(the only place in the USA where there is some interest is from Detroit - ChangingWorldTech can turn used-up tires & plastics back into oil)

 

[Mo Heat]

I heard the Carthage, MO plant had the rug pulled out from under them just after they built their plant. Besides all their neighbors complaining about the stench, they were expecting to get Turkey "offal" (giblets) for free, but it suddenly became a commodity of value and so they had to pay for it instead of getting paid to take it. Otherwise, they wouldn't require the price of oil to be so high to be profitable. What else do they do with turkey offal? Make animal feed, I suppose.

It's too bad the Carthage plant can't change feedstock to old tires or plastic or something that they would get paid to recycle instead of having to pay for their feedstock. I know their basic process could handle it, but the devil is probably in the details of other parts of the system. It kind of defeats the economics of recycling if trash becomes a valuable commodity.

Recycling in general is the red-headed step child that nobody wants in the U.S. economy. Until it gets more attention, innovative processes like plasma recycling at Carthage, MO will continue to struggle or fail.

I hope the Toms River plasma recycler in New Jersey gets some traction. There are apparently more plasma recyclers being built by Startech Environmental in Panama, China, and Italy. Maybe this will be enough to keep them out of bankruptcy.

 

[smirnov3]

Apparantly, what happened with the Turkey offal was Mad Cow disease. After All the press coverage of Mad Cow, the USA made it illegal to feed cow parts to other cows (that is the way the disease is transmitted). So Changing World Technologies (and most consumers) assumed that cows would now be fed only grain, and offal would be going to the dump.

Instead, now the Cow farmers feed turkey parts to their cows, and cow parts to the turkeys. And all is well in the world of Agri-buisness.

I bet you didn't know that Bessy the cow was a carnivore, did you?

(if you want to eat a steak that is 100% grain fed, buy Buffalo (I just realized I have no idea how to spell that word. Elk, any ideas?) - they can't digest animal matter so well, so there is no point in feeding it to them.)

 

[Mo Heat]

Instead, now the Cow farmers feed turkey parts to their cows, and cow parts to the turkeys. And all is well in the world of Agri-buisness.

I bet you didn't know that Bessy the cow was a carnivore, did you?

(if you want to eat a steak that is 100% grain fed, buy Buffalo (I just realized I have no idea how to spell that word. Elk, any ideas?) - they can't digest animal matter so well, so there is no point in feeding it to them.)

That makes sense. Cannibalism isn't the best idea for any species due to the species barrier for so many diseases I suppose.

Hmmm. Buffalo burger. I love it, although it miffs me that nearly every place that serves it insists that you cook it medium. I insist on well done, even with buffalo burger (which can be a bit drier than beef). Interestingly, I've never seen steaks offered around here, just buffalo burger.

A friend of mine has/had 2 buffalo on their farm. Those are some big critters. One liked to scratch himself on the wheel well of their mini pickup. I was afraid he was going to turn it over.