tallex2002 wrote:
Hi all,
This is interesting research. We really have to accelerate
the development of sustainable technologies like these
and lighten our footprint on this planet.
It's not a sustainable technology, though it looks like one at first.
``Definitely, there is potential
in the long term.''
- says Zhang. But what there is no potential for in the long term, or
at all, is the entirely unsustainable concentrated livestock
containment factory farming system it's based on. Essentially it's
a waste disposal method - wrong approach, regardless of whether it
finds a good end-use for the waste or not. The idea of waste
itself is the wrong approach. Concentrated livestock farms are out of
gear with the land, and disposing of the manure lakes in a useful way
doesn't remedy that. That manure represents the fertility of the soil
which produced the feed. That soil is usually far away, or very far
away, brought to the swine via the waste of large amounts of fossil
fuel. The manure lagoons create all sorts of local and not so local
problems, but while recycling the manure into fuel might solve some
of those problems it doesn't address the overall problem of factory
farming, it's just sticking a band-aid on a cancer. There is no
sustainability until nature's Law of Return is restored and
maintained, and the manure returned in suitable form (composted) to
the land it came from. Integrated, mixed farms using low-input
high-output high-quality methods are productive, economical and
sustainable, and can produce sufficient energy to run the farm and
homestead, plus an excess for export to the community, from an
ever-changing variety of by-products and wastes with the dedicated
use of little or no land at all. That's sustainable, and it's no
mystery.
Best
Keith
Research shows swine manure can become crude oil
Monday April 12, 2004
By JIM PAUL
Associated Press Writer
URBANA, Ill. (AP) A University of Illinois
research team is working on turning pig
manure into a form of crude oil that could
be refined to heat homes or generate
electricity.
Years of research and fine-tuning are ahead
before the idea could be commercially viable,
but results so far indicate there might be
big benefits for farmers and consumers, lead
researcher Yanhui Zhang said.
``This is making more sense in terms of
alternative energy or renewable energy and
strategically for reducing our dependency
on foreign oil,'' said Zhang, an associate
professor of agricultural and biological
engineering. ``Definitely, there is potential
in the long term.''
The thermochemical conversion process uses
intense heat and pressure to break down the
molecular structure of manure into oil. It's
much like the natural process that turns organic
matter into oil over centuries, but in the
laboratory the process can take as little as
a half-hour.
A similar process is being used at a plant in
Carthage, Mo., where tons of turkey entrails,
feathers, fats and grease from a nearby Butterball
turkey plant are converted into a light crude oil,
said Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Conagra
Foods, which operates the plant in a joint venture
with Long Island-based Changing World Technologies.
But converting manure is sure to catch the attention
of swine producers. Safe containment of livestock
waste is costly for farmers, especially at large
confinement operations where thousands of tons
of manure are produced each year. Also, odors
produced by swine farms have made them a nuisance
to neighbors.
``If this ultimately becomes one of the silver
bullets to help the industry, I'm absolutely
in favor of it,'' said Jim Kaitschuk, executive
director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association.
Zhang and his research team have found that
converting manure into crude oil is possible
in small batches, but much more research is
needed to develop a continuously operating
reaction chamber that could handle large
amounts of manure. That is key to making
the process practicable and economically
viable.
Zhang predicted that one day a reactor the
size of a home furnace could process the
manure generated by 2,000 hogs at a cost of
about $10 per barrel.
In a best-case scenario, $1.5 billion in crude
oil imports could be saved each year if 50
percent of the nation's swine farms used the
technology, Zhang said. And he estimated the
value of hogs would increase $10 to $15 each
if the oil that their waste produces could be
sold for $30 per barrel.
Big oil refineries are unlikely to purchase
crude oil made from converted manure, Zhang
said, because they aren't set up to refine
it. But the oil could be used to fuel smaller
electric or heating plants, or to make plastics,
ink or asphalt, he said.
``Crude oil is our first raw material,'' he said.
``If we can make it value-added, suddenly the
whole economic picture becomes brighter.''
^ =
On the Net:
Yanhui Zhang's Web site:
