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No bull: There's value in farm
We're not likely to ever run short. Often it's a problem, but it could be a strong renewable energy resource candidate. We're talking about farm animal manure. As the animal farm industry has concentrated more and more production on smaller parcels of land, handling the manure has become a more serious pollution issue. But that manure, says John Sheffield, a researcher at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, also represents a gold mine as an energy source, if the farmers can get enough economical and technological help in putting it to better use. "In the past, a small animal farm could be a more or less closed ecological system. The manure was the fertilizer for the crops used to feed the animals. Now operations are larger and more concentrated and the feed may come from producers far away. For example, corn grown in the Midwest feeds animals in the East. Unfortunately, the manure as an unmodified fertilizer is much less valuable than the feed. Therefore it is not economic to ship it back." Today, many farms spread the manure on local fields. But those fields may already be saturated with phosphates, and the runoff pollutes stream, rivers and the water system generally. The problems are compounded by the presence of both pathogens and antibiotics in the manure. The odor and dust from the animal farm operations is also seen as a public nuisance and a health hazard. Fortunately, it is a problem that, he says, is "absolutely fixable." Ultimately, it may be fixed at a profit using modern technologies and systems, many of them from ORNL and other DOE laboratories, including biotechnology, catalysts, advanced materials, separations systems, improved combustion, instrumentation and controls and computer models. Work in this area has received a boost with the President's bio-based products and bio-energy initiative for commercialization of technologies and the Lugar bill for research, development and deployment. "Animal manure has value," he says. "The United States produces 1.4 billion tons of wet manure a year, or more than 200 million tons in dry weight. The solids have value: as fertilizer, because it is rich in phosphates, and as an energy source. Those 200 million tons of manure contain energy equal to the energy in about 100 million tons of coal, roughly 10 percent of U.S. annual coal use. "A whole range of products could be produced from waste that could recover three or four cents of every five spent in recycling. We need industry-based support that doesn't put the load on the farmer. The technology providers should take the risk, and it will require government help. You have to prime the pump," he says. Through the University of Tennessee's Joint Institute for Energy and Environmental Studies, ORNL, the Tennessee Valley Authority and UT's College of Agriculture have been discussing various approaches for helping farmers convert their manure into a productive resource. Submitted by DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
