Livestock producers chart environment strategy
One day this past July, a U.S. company achieved what it called a milestone in the development of renewable energy from livestock manure. Intrepid
Technology and Resources successfully processed methane derived from manure, from an Idaho dairy farm, into pipeline-quality natural gas. The
achievement shows that, in principle, manure-derived biogas can be made pure enough to enter the natural gas pipeline distribution system.
To consultant Russ Davis, this development is another step on the road to what he calls the “manure revolution”. He expects that as technology improves, energy will become a common by-product of intensive livestock production, and a profitable one at that.
“For the first time, we are starting to see livestock manure as a valuable resource, not just in terms of a soil amendment, but as a means of advancing renewable energy,” says Davis, president of Organix, an organic residuals management company based in Walla Walla, Washington. “For the first time, investors are looking at the back end of a cow.”
Organix’s mission is to work with farm businesses to develop business composting plans. When the company started in 2001, Davis’s focus was on helping
clients, mainly dairy producers, manage large volumes of manure and establish an income stream from it. Today, he complements that service by introducing
clients to the commercial possibilities of producing and marketing biogas.
Davis advocates an anaerobic digester technology called the Induced Blanket Reactor. The automated system involves a series of tanks heated to 100°F that
separate livestock manure into processed liquids and solids over a period of five days. The concentrated and nutrient-rich liquids can be used as a fertilizer.
The composted solids emerge as a dry product similar to peat moss, which can be marketed as a soil amendment for landscapers and gardeners.
The process also captures methane gas, which can be purified and sold or used to power a generator to produce electricity.
How much energy can technology wring from livestock manure? Davis believes we’re in the early stages of understanding the true economic and environmental value of manure.
In the meantime, he’s consulting with producers to determine the best way to make energy from their waste.
“The Canadian dairy producers I’ve spoken with have been very enthusiastic,” he says. “These systems are most practical for operations of 2,000
cows or more, and most Canadians I’ve spoken with have 150 or 200. That doesn’t make it impossible, just a bit more complicated.”
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