Turning cow poo into power is profitable for US farm

Farmer Ryan Rogers checks on a generator at Homestead Dairy in Plymouth, Indiana, which invested in a biogas recovery system which transforms cow manure and other waste into enough electricity to power 1,000 homes

For most farms, manure is a pungent problem. At Homestead Dairy, it smells like money.

The family-run American farm invested in a biogas recovery system which transforms cow poo and other waste into electricity.

Enough electricity, in fact, to power 1,000 homes, a service which the local utility company pays for handsomely.

But that's just a side benefit.

"It works economically, but one of the main reasons we did it was to try to help take care of the odor control for the neighbors," said Floyd Houin, whose family has owned the farm in Plymouth, Indiana since 1945.

"The land's important to us also because we produce a crop for feeding cows. So we want to do everything we can to take care of the land and the water. We drink the same water as everyone else."

Livestock farms typically store their effluent in open lagoons and the stench does not make them very popular with the neighbors.

The lagoons also have a significant environmental impact because they emit methane and carbon dioxide—major contributors to climate change—and can sully the groundwater if they leak or overflow during heavy rains.

Setting up an anaerobic digester—essentially a giant shed that uses heat to speed up decomposition—captures both the smell and the greenhouse gases.

Power one million homes

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than three million tons of greenhouse gas emissions were eliminated last year by Homestead and the 246 other US livestock farms which have installed biogas recovery systems.

That's equivalent to taking more than 630,000 cars off the road.

There are about 8,000 dairy and hog farms in the United States which are large enough to make a biogas recovery system viable.

The EPA estimates they could generate enough electricity to power over a million homes and cut emissions by the equivalent of taking nearly four million cars off the road.

Farmer Ryan Rogers shows the rich fertilizer which comes out of an anaerobic digester used to treat manure at Homestead Dairy in Plymouth, Indiana

Biogas recovery is also being used to capture methane from landfills and sewage treatment plants and even at craft beer companies.

"The federal government is really committed to seeing progress in this sector," said Allison Costa, program manager for the EPA's AgStar unit.

"Widespread investment and adoption could help us make significant inroads in helping us address some of our environmental and energy challenges."

The problem is the financing, Costa said. There's a huge upfront cost and most utility companies in the United States won't pay enough for the electricity to make the project appealing to a bank loan officer.

It also requires a lot of maintenance, which many farms don't have the manpower to manage. But when it works, Costa said, it really works.

"We've seen a lot of farms expand and build a second one," she told AFP.

"You just have to have someone willing to love that digester and take care of it."

Ryan Rogers, 31, loves his digester.

"There's so many (good) things, you forget them all," said Rogers, who married into the Homestead family and spends about four hours a day on digester maintenance and management.

Controlling the smell from the 70,000 gallons of manure and urine produced every day by the dairy's 3,400 cows clearly tops the list.

Then of course, there's the crops. The digester does a much better job of turning the manure into fertilizer, which means a better yield from the farm's 4,500 acres of corn.

Farmer Ryan Rogers checks on a truck which has dumped food waste into a pit that feeds an anaerobic digester at Homestead Dairy in Plymouth, Indiana

Once that nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer is extracted, what's left makes for some nice soft bedding for the cows.

And instead of spending money to manage the manure, soon they'll be making money off it.

Recover cost in five years

The family managed to get a grant to help cover some of the cost of the facility and a favorable contact with the local power company which was looking to expand its renewable energy supplies.

They bring in extra income—and fuel for the generators—by charging restaurants and food processing plants a lower rate to dump their waste than the local landfill.

It will probably only take about five years until the initial investment is fully paid off, Rogers said. And it's working so well they're planning to build a second facility.

"It's definitely a growing field within the United States," said Mike Fenton of Michigan CAT, which sold the Caterpillar generators used by Homestead and helps them to maintain the system.

The European market is much more advanced because there are so many more subsidies available and the cost of electricity is so much higher, he said.

While US farmers may balk at the initial cost—a system like the one at Homestead would run around $6 million—Fenton said it's a good investment. Most farms can pay it off and start making a profit within three to five years.

"It's a proven technology that works really well," he told AFP.

Explore further: 'Poop to power' program turns pig manure into sustainable energy

gkam

1.4 / 5 (28) Aug 09, 2015

We need this for one other important reason: Nutrient Management. We can reduce or eliminate the algal blooms by limiting the nutrients washed down into the water. Anaerobic digestion powered the integrated system for ethanol and other salable products in my 1982 thesis for Magic Valley Dairy and their 3,000-head herd, at that time.

Back then, we could get 600Btu/ft3 biogas, and now it is up to 700 Btu, using bacteria in the high mesophilic range, about 100 degrees F in continuously-stirred tank reactors (CSTRS).

Uncle Ira

4.3 / 5 (28) Aug 09, 2015

Anaerobic digestion powered the integrated system for ethanol and other salable products in my 1982 thesis for Magic Valley Dairy and their 3,000-head herd, at that time.

Still about you, eh Skippy? Well golly gee, Cher, if it has not caught on in 34 or 33 years why you think it's going get much traction now?

1.7 / 5 (29) Aug 09, 2015

Grow up, Ira, the thread is anaerobic digestion, of which I may know more than you.

Of course, the rotting vegetation in the deltas is often anaerobic, so maybe you like that smell.

Grow up, Ira, the thread is anaerobic digestion, of which I may know more than you..

Skippy you know more about every thing than everybody. That is how you got to be the expert in 15 or 14 different fields, eh?

1.4 / 5 (27) Aug 09, 2015

Resent me all you need, Ira. I can send you the 200+-page thesis, and you can learn how to integrate technologies successfully. You will learn about all kinds of stuff from hydrolysis to methanation to cattle feed requirements and formulations, to nutrient management to power generation, to bacterial life in fields.

Resent me all you need, Ira.

I do not resent you Cher. I ridicule you. I mock you. I laugh and have BIG FUN with you. But I do not resent you. You must have me mixed up with somebody else, I enjoy you more and more the sillier you get. And you are not different than JVK-Skippy or Bennie-Skippy so why would I resent you? I am glad to be me instead of you.

1.3 / 5 (27) Aug 09, 2015

Yeah, I am just a "couyon", which I assume is somebody who wears shoes.

But grow out of this, Ira, and stick with the topic, instead of following the goobers. Ask all the questions you want about controlled anaerobic digestion. Why not thermophilic strains? What happened to plug-flow? You can start anywhere.

4.4 / 5 (28) Aug 09, 2015

Ask all the questions you want about controlled anaerobic digestion. Why not thermophilic strains? What happened to plug-flow? You can start anywhere.

Well Skippy it's like this. I think I will ask the Google-Skippy instead of asking peoples here. There are just too many peoples here at the physorg who like to make stuff up and play act at being scientists and engineers and such like. You know, peoples like Bennie-Skippy and Really-Skippy and Returnering-Skippy.

Google-Skippy at least lets you know who is the real expert and what schools they went to and if they are just crankpots or bragging blow-hards.

Or, you could ask for original documents, like the ones I sent you after being challenged. Would it do any good? Why could you not admit what the headline said in the story I referenced about the AF Flight Test Center? It was not done to brag, but was the only proof I happened to have to send you. The AF Flight Test Center sent it to me about six months ago.

You characterized the NASA list of reports which included mine as requests for studies. I just want an honest discussion. Get your ego-Skippy out of it.

Let's get back to methanogens.

Or, you could ask for original documents, like the ones I sent you after being challenged.

You sound like you are begging me to let you be the go-to-Skippy.

Why could you not admit what the headline said in the story I referenced about the AF Flight Test Center?

Admit what? You won a prize for being a good airman one month. There was nothing in there about you being the expert at anything. I admit that you sent me a news letter that says you won a prize for the being the "Airman of the Month". But Skippy, I can not admit more than that because because it does not say more than that. You got a $25 gift certificate, and a free meal on the Rotory Club, and a free motel stay for a weekend on the Chamber of Commerce. That's it.

You want me to admit that it says more than that? Maybe you sent the wrong news letter because that is all it says.

1.3 / 5 (28) Aug 09, 2015

Give it up, Ira. You are an anonymous sniper, attacking a real person. Unable to admit you were wrong, you keep on getting off topic to save your little ego-cher.

Let's debate why thermophilic bugs are not ubiquitous in anaerobic digestion on farms. Or, the nitrification/denitrification of liquids. Or the benefits of making it mandatory for farms of over 100 head?

We will be doing this, and it will become mandatory in most places (and economically viable in others), so get used to it. Learn about it.

4.5 / 5 (26) Aug 09, 2015

I read the article. What more you want for me? If it becomes mandatory that is fine with me. I do not have to get used to it, I don't have any dairy cows. I don't plan on buying any dairy cows so it's no problem to me. If I am not going to raise dairy cows, why do I need to learn more than what the article says? I like the idea, but that is about all I have to say on him.

Unable to admit you were wrong, you keep on getting off topic to save your little ego-cher.

You are the one who keeps bringing it up over and over and some more overs. Don't say nothing else to me about what the news letter doesn't prove and I won't say nothing else about the news letter article I saw.

" I don't plan on buying any dairy cows so it's no problem to me. If I am not going to raise dairy cows, why do I need to learn more than what the article says?"
------------------------------------

I want nothing from you. It was my error for assuming you were interested in this topic because you read it and commented on it.

denglish

4 / 5 (12) Aug 09, 2015

This thread's relationship to the article defines the term "apropos".

1.6 / 5 (26) Aug 09, 2015

My discussion is technical. Other here, including you, are not adding anything to it.

Got any questions? What pH is run in the digesters? What is the HRT (hydraulic retention time)? What percent total solids in and out? How much power can we generate using current ICE-generator technology? What happens to the urine? What is the final state of the input, and what do you do with it?

3.4 / 5 (10) Aug 09, 2015

Got any questions?

No, you have no credibility.

This is important: the Central Valley is polluted, and much of it is from the addition of the dairy cattle from parts south. Much of it can be prevented by mandatory anaerobic digestion of farm animal wastes, which also can provide electrical power and salable by-products.

Put your petty ego aside, and see what we can do in a clean and efficient society.

3 / 5 (12) Aug 09, 2015

This is the same person that says the US sold nuclear secrets to N Korea and Pakistan.

"This is the same person that says the US sold nuclear secrets to N Korea and Pakistan."
------------------------------

No, I did not. I said we did nothing to stop AQ Khan from getting weapons designs, . . and the Krytrons from Texas. So caught up in your petty game of gotcha, you screw up, blinded by hate.

3.2 / 5 (11) Aug 09, 2015

You are irrational, and this thread is about anaerobic digestion of diary cattle waste. Do you know why it does not include feedlots?

No?

Comments Guidelines:
Stay on topic: Acceptable comments include those that add to the discussion in a meaningful and thought-provoking manner or provide an intelligent counterpoint to our articles.

Avoid pointless verbiage: Try not to post comments such as e.g. "this is great", "useless" or "this is wrong". Say what you think is wrong, useful or useless about the article.

Be civil: Please respond insightfully and respectfully, avoiding personal attacks and name calling. Do not make comments that are threatening, obscene, profane, contain hate speech or degrade others. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

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Avoid political and religious discussions:Because of the complexity and ambiguity of this subject matter, political and religious discussions are not allowed.

Do not 'crosspost': Do not keep posting the same message, or very similar messages.

Doug_Huffman

2.3 / 5 (3) Aug 09, 2015

gkam has credibility on this subject at least.

Wisconsin is regulating disposal of cow manure while ignoring the greater hazard of human manure disposed in the same manner as traditional farm manure spreading. We activists argue for a centralized AD for processing of all organic waste (human, farm, and field) while the TPTB bandage their traditional high capacity septic tank.

4.2 / 5 (26) Aug 09, 2015

Stay on topic: Acceptable comments include those that add to the discussion in a meaningful and thought-provoking manner or provide an intelligent counterpoint to our articles

Avoid pointless verbiage: Try not to post comments such as e.g. "this is great", "useless" or "this is wrong". Say what you think is wrong, useful or useless about the article

Be civil: Please respond insightfully and respectfully, avoiding personal attacks and name calling. Do not make comments that are threatening, obscene, profane, contain hate speech or degrade others. Personal attacks will not be tolerated

Keep science: Include references to the published scientific literature to support your statements

Avoid political and religious discussions:Because of the complexity and ambiguity of this subject matter, political and religious discussions are not allowed

Do not 'crosspost':Do not keep posting the same message, or very similar messages

You have broke every one of those rules.

3.5 / 5 (11) Aug 09, 2015

Stay on topic: Acceptable comments include those that add to the discussion in a meaningful and thought-provoking manner or provide an intelligent counterpoint to our articles.

Avoid pointless verbiage: Try not to post comments such as e.g. "this is great", "useless" or "this is wrong". Say what you think is wrong, useful or useless about the article.

Be civil: Please respond insightfully and respectfully, avoiding personal attacks and name calling. Do not make comments that are threatening, obscene, profane, contain hate speech or degrade others. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Keep science: Include references to the published scientific literature to support your statements.

Avoid political and religious discussions:Because of the complexity and ambiguity of this subject matter, political and religious discussions are not allowed.

Do not 'crosspost': Do not keep posting the same message, or very similar messages.

You have broken every one.

Estevan57

4.4 / 5 (21) Aug 09, 2015

gkam has credibility on this subject at least.

Doug_Huffman

So, true Mr Huffman. If ever there was a bullshitter, gkam is the true master.

Yes gkam,I know the difference between dairy cows and bulls. Bulls have couilles.

ps. - couilles is the proper French root word for couyon.

No, estie, the difference for anaerobic digestion is significant.

Feedlot cattle are stuffed with so many antibiotics and hormones it kills the bacteria in the digester.

Eat up!

1.3 / 5 (26) Aug 09, 2015

Estevan, you put the personal information of my greater family online in another thread in this forum.

You have accepted responsibility for the first time in your life. If anything happens, you get the first visit.

antigoracle

2.7 / 5 (7) Aug 09, 2015

Comments Guidelines:...blah...blah..

--gskam
That's really rich coming from you.
So, you are not only an ignorant fraud but also a shameless hypocrite.
You should stick to your usual posts ---
.....goobers...WMD...Bush...

4.6 / 5 (21) Aug 09, 2015

gkam you ignorant uh, person.

If I had posted MY name here I would take responsibility for the consequences, but you are responsible for the protection of yourself online.

I get the first visit huh? Bring cookies.

TheGhostofOtto1923

4.3 / 5 (23) Aug 10, 2015

Sorry psycho you did this to yourself when you started using your real name.

This leads right to your website, google maps, etc.

But then you are very used to blaming everyone else for your own problems arent you? Those 20+ supervisors who shitcanned you were all dumb goobers werent they?

Grow up, Ira, the thread is anaerobic digestion, of which I may know more than you

I doubt it. You think that airborne manure dust is called 'volatile solids' and that it is a major constituent of 'high air' pollution in the central valley.

You can pump it but its obvious you dont know nothin about it.

Oh george another point lost today - 2.4. At this rate how soon before youre in the basement where you belong?

Even verkle is downvoting you and he loves everybody.

The people have spoken. Theyre tired of your psychopathic lies and manipulations.

1.2 / 5 (25) Aug 12, 2015

Somebody here is trying to tell us something about himself. It seems to be very difficult. He uses dopplegangers as substitutes for himself when he asks for help in his own offensive way. Often, he will scream dirty words in ALL CAPS, to get the attention he so sorely needs. It is not to be bad, he is screaming for HELP!

Already having started the therapy by admitting he is a lowly sniper, hiding behind pseudonyms, playing "games" with the Decent Folk, he now needs the rest of us to encourage his therapy and road to psychological health, if possible.

4.4 / 5 (20) Aug 12, 2015

Lying, Cheating Psychopaths are Not Decent Folk.

Take responsibility for exposing your family by posting your real name. Stop blaming others for your own stupidity.

Post your complete CV on your website so you dont have to misrepresent your 'experience' as anything besides what it was... a train wreck.

Turn yourself in, otto. There is no shame in you being second-rate. Having done nothing in life hurts you, we know, but there are lots of your kind.

They are all locked up for their own good.

4.4 / 5 (21) Aug 12, 2015

Second rate is having to make up lies in order to impress people like the lie that fallout is the main cause of lung cancer or that dried manure is called volatile solids and is a major constituent of 'high air' pollution in the central valley. Its not.

Second rate is posting your real name and then blaming others because YOU arent smart enough to realize that this would expose your family.

"The man, assessed above by his prison psychiatrist as having made such remarkable improvement, was described by Hare's staffer as "the most terrifying offender she had ever met and that he openly boasted about how he had conned the prison staff into thinking that he was well on the road to rehabilitation. "I can't believe those guys," he said. "Who gave them a license to practice? I wouldn't let them psychoanalyze my dog! He'd shit all over them just like I did."

-Psychopaths think that these skills are something to be proud of. For most, deception is the only skill they have.

4.5 / 5 (22) Aug 12, 2015

he now needs the rest of us to encourage his therapy and road to psychological health, if possible

So tell us what you are being treated for down at the VA psycho ward.

Does it have anything to do with delusions such as the one where the staff there is monitoring my every post just because I am exposing their favorite sicko as a lying, cheating psychopath?

Are you too stupid to realize just how insane this notion is?

They already know what you are, and how normal people in the real world respond to your predatory affliction.

1.2 / 5 (24) Aug 12, 2015

It's YOUR fixation, otto.

You can't leave me alone. can you? Do I get under your skin, because you thought I was a phony, too? Did it bother you when I proved who I am?

Yup. It drives you CRAZY.

Now, let's get over it, shall we?

This thread is about anaerobic digestion. Which would you favor, mesophilic or thermophilic bacteria in your digester, and why?

"Who gave them a license to practice? I wouldn't let them psychoanalyze my dog! He'd shit all over them just like I did."
----------------------------------

That is really professional, otto. What does it have to do with anaerobic digestion of diary cattle waste? Is that your reaction to everything?

You can't leave me alone.

I told you. I hate lying cheating psychopaths. They dont belong here. YOU dont belong here.

"... the Narcissistic component...any sort of attention, love or hate, either will do. So long as others are engaged and focussed on the Psychopath. The Psychopath hates to be ignored. Psychopath hates being alone, dislikes living on its own as a single person.

Do I get under your skin, because you thought I was a phony, too?

But you ARE a phony george. You have proven that by claiming to be an engineer without knowing even the most basic knowledge required to be one.

Did it bother you when I proved who I am?

-And you suffer under the profound delusion that using your real name somehow makes all the lies you post and the facts you make up, true.

Youve only exposed george kamburoff as a lying psychopath, willing to expose his family in order to perpetuate this delusion.

Yup. It drives you CRAZY.

So what drove you insane? Agent orange?

Well no it was uttered by a fellow psychopath of yours.

I thought you would have been smart enough to realize things like this.

George reveals what he is really doing here...

And you dream of me. You can't help it. Every comment I leave gets under your skin.

You can be played like a cheap kazoo

-Do you see the common sentiment?

What I see is your fixation.

Let's discuss anaerobic digestion. What are your favorite methanogens?

Let's discuss anaerobic digestion

OK.

How come someone who claims to be an expert on the subject (because he wrote his MS thesis on it, even though he was a dropout at the time), didnt know that

"Volatile solids are those solids in water or other liquids that are lost on ignition of dry solids at 1020°F (550°C). It is a water quality measure obtained from the loss on ignition of total suspended solids. It has great importance in water and wastewater treatment.

"It normally represents the amount of organic solids in water."

-And instead thought they were dried manure dust polluting the 'high air' of the central valley?

And when corrected he continued to insist that he was right?

-Obviously youre the kind of expert that no one would want to discuss the topic with.

Because you are prone to making up outrageous bullshit like this and then claiming that its true because you post under your real name.

Methanogens, otto, methanogens.

Look them up.

If you do not understand the serial processes required for anaerobic digestion, you have no business on this thread.

Why are you here?

I did look up volatile solids and found out you were full of shit. You think throwing technical terms around will make you any less full of shit?

Psychopaths have no business on this site.

We have some goober here with a terrible fixation, and a terrible need to "get even" with me for letting him make a fool of himself.

Even more interesting, as he follows me around, he likes to give us definitions of psychopathy.

Will somebody please get his message, and put him in an emotional care facility?

Again, cross posting is another rule you think you dont have to follow. Whyis that george? You think youre better than everyone else here?

Of course you do. And you will lie and cheat and fabricate in order to prove it.

1.2 / 5 (23) Aug 12, 2015

otto, . . look up monomania.

Then get help.

For the rest of you, a typical seven-thousand-head dairy herd can produce sufficient power for a thousand households, while reducing or completely eliminating odors, flies, and solids.

4.6 / 5 (22) Aug 13, 2015

For the rest of you, a typical seven-thousand-head dairy herd can produce sufficient power for a thousand households, while reducing or completely eliminating odors, flies, and solids

-You dont happen to have a link for this do you?

Because, as has been pointed out many times, george kamburoffs word is shit here due to the many lies and fabrications he has posted.

Why, just yesterday ira caught you lying through your teeth in this thread
http://phys.org/n...ent.html

-Why do you think people wouldnt notice?

-Why do you think people wouldnt be offended by your lies?

3 / 5 (6) Aug 13, 2015

otto, . . look up monomania.

Then get help.

Why?
It obviously did not work for you.

1.2 / 5 (24) Aug 13, 2015

Methanogens, Toots, methanogens. Your silly screaming of insults across the playground is not debate.

If you have no idea of the complex interactions of bacteria for these processes, you can just take shots with silly personal comments.

4.6 / 5 (21) Aug 14, 2015

Your lying and making up facts and then claiming that they are irrefutable because you post under your real name, is certainly not debate, is it?

1.2 / 5 (23) Aug 14, 2015

otto, please get over your anger at me for letting you reveal your emotional and juvenile self to us. I can't blame you for resenting the fact I have studied and used this technology, but you just have to grow up, and deal with it.

Now, the issue here is anaerobic digestion, and I posed several technical questions you ignored. Are you ignorant of the technology? Let's discuss the applications.

4.5 / 5 (22) Aug 14, 2015

otto, please get over your anger at me for letting you reveal your emotional and juvenile self to us. I can't blame you for resenting the fact I have studied and used this technology, but you just have to grow up, and deal with it.

Now, the issue here is anaerobic digestion, and I posed several technical questions you ignored. Are you ignorant of the technology? Let's discuss the applications

-So post a link for this like anyone else here would do...

-Or it is quite reasonable to assume, given your past performance, that you pulled it out of your ass.

1.2 / 5 (24) Aug 14, 2015

I came onto this forum thinking it would be populated with professionals, ready to discuss science, theoretical and applied. In those fora, we identify ourselves, and take responsibility for our words and actions. It is called professionalism.

Instead, I found a cabal of chronic malcontents taking snipes at all others with varying opinions from theirs. We have one, admittedly spending his workday playing these games, . . a real professional. Then we have a Vandal, who never got over being corrected by his betters, following me around for non-stop insults. Because they are anonymous, they get away with being themselves, letting their true character shine.

But professionals? Nope.

I came onto this forum thinking it would be populated with professionals, ready to discuss science, theoretical and applied. In those fora, we identify ourselves, and take responsibility for our words and actions. It is called professionalism

-But youre a confirmed liar who thinks he can make up facts just because he posts under his real name. This is in no way responsible.

Only insane people would think this way.

letting their true character shine

You are a confirmed liar and fabricator of facts. Psychopaths can feign integrity but that act itself means they have no integrity.

"A woman with a staggering record of fraud, deceit, lies, and broken promises concluded a letter to the parole board with, "I've let a lot of people down… One is only as good as her reputation and name. My word is as good as gold.""

4.4 / 5 (21) Aug 14, 2015

But professionals? Nope

So go find a forum full of professionals willing to put up with your lies and fabrications.

Start out with the one about fallout being the main cause of lung cancer.

Lots of luck to ya.