Cow Poop -> Electricity: Biogas Project in California
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 03.11.08
You can almost smell the photo above: "a vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep". Ew. But as long as we are stuck with all that manure from industrial farms (and aren't using it locally like on the Polyface Farm), something might as well be done with it.
The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project, the project of dairyman David Albers, wants to provide enough natural gas to power 1,200 homes a day. "As cow manure decomposes, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Scientists say controlling methane emissions from animals such as cows would be a major step in addressing climate change."
To tap the renewable gas from cow manure, the Vintage Dairy farm first flushes manure into a large, octagonal pit, where it becomes about 99 percent water. It is then pumped into a covered lagoon, first passing through a screen that filters out large solids that eventually become the cows' bedding. [...]Weights on top of the digester channel the gas to the small facility where it is "scrubbed" of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. The end product is "close to 99 percent pure methane" according to BioEnergy Chief Operating Officer Thomas Hintz.
The the gas is injected into PG&E's pipeline, where it will be shipped to a power plant in Northern California.
There are many other manure lagoons like that one that aren't capturing the methane, so that seems like the thing to do both economically and environmentally.
A second dairy in Fresno county has already agreed to join the Vintage Dairy project and Albers estimated gas from the two dairies combined could power 2,500 homes a day.
It would probably be a good idea to start thinking about harnessing biogas from other sources as well. There's a low of cows, but there's also a lot of us. How about human sewage?
::California cows start passing gas to the grid
See also: ::TreeHugger Picks: Behold - The Power of Poo, ::Biogas: Poo-Powered Prison in Rwanda, ::Human Poop and Urine Provide Cheap Biogas Source in Uganda, ::Bio-Digesters in India: Nothing Wasted, A Lot More Gained
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Now this makes excellent sense. Another revenue stream for farms the world over.
It's being done in Boston for municipal sewage:
http://www.mwra.com/03sewer/html/sewditp.htm
It can and should be done in many other places.
The solids aren't the only methane emitters. Cow burps and flatulence contain scads of methane. Silly as it sounds, the first person to invent an economical barn design with cow-fart capture vents could become a green hero.
This article claims 90% of Australia's agricultural methane emission came from cow-and-sheep gas:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/07/21/cow.methane.enn/index.html
If you think that vat of poop is large, check out where Chicago sends its stuff. Framed by I55 on the west, the I&M canal on the east, 171 on the north, and Willow Springs road on the south. Next to Justice, Illinois... Click here for Google Map link
There was recently an article on Treehugger that asked if pellet stoves were unsustainable dreams, because they relied on unsustainable practices that weren't guaranteed to last forever for their fuel (ie, corn farming and rapid development). Is this the same kind of thing? Not only does this encourage the horrendous practice of factory farming (that is completely unsustainable), but factory farming might not be here in 20, 30, 50 years for many reasons.
So is this whole "biogas" business simply another unsustainable dream?
Kent, unfortunately the sad truth is that factory farming is more profitable, and whatever makes a profit is what is going to happen. So as long as this is the case we might as well reduce its impact as much as possible and gain another alternative energy source in the process.
Cow poop needs to be used for fertilizer. In Africa, they have had to teach people to not burn the dung but re-use it in the fields after composting. Ditto Humanure - after longer composting. We must use solar or wind for energy. Or human power. Why can't we have mass transit that renews batteries with people doing exercises? Let's start thinking!
this is an old idea. Rent "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" to see how Bartertown got its electricity.
The world is finally going the way of "Road Warrior", which at least is better than "Soylent Green"
Kent,
At present we do have intensive farming practices, and at the moment this methane is entering the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. I dont think that the article claims this is the long term, miracle solution, what is is proposing is to use this methane responsibly while we have it available to us. This will reduce the impact that this gas has on our environment, AND provide us with energy. That's two great benefits!
Two things to keep in mind:
Once methane is 'burnt' the by product is carbon dioxide, but this is a much less powerful greenhouse gas.
Also, this is only viable in situations where the manure can be easily harvested, such as dairies, and feedlots. Basically, where large amounts of animals are kept in confined spaces. So manure from sheep is a little harder to get (unless you want to run around the paddock!).
That is so cool. I think more places need biogas. This seems to be one of the alternative fuels that gets a bit overlooked.