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Cow Burps Tapped For Fuel
Dave Knott writes with this intriguing snippet from CBC: "Argentine scientists have found a way to transform the gas created by the bovine digestive system into fuel, an innovation that could curb greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Using a system of valves and pumps, the experimental technique developed by Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) channels the digestive gases from bovine stomach cavities through a tube and into a tank. The gases — which otherwise are commonly known as burps, or "eruptos" in Spanish — are then processed to separate methane from other gases such as carbon dioxide. Each head of cattle emits between 250 and 300 liters of pure methane a day, enough energy to keep a refrigerator running for 24 hours."
turn the cow into a battery
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Ah come on... Cow BURPS? There are a whole lot of ways to get methane from the things cows expel, mostly from the OTHER end, that are a whole lot easier and effective than what they burp up. But hey... Who wants to shovel the stuff into the tank where we can easily capture the methane it generates?
I'm calling BS on this.. (grin)
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I repeat, this is Bullshit!
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It won't be done unless the money they can get for the generated fuel pays for the expense.
(to be funny) Imaging this implemented on an industrial scale...Warehouses filled with pens of cows hooked up to all sorts of tubes, and strange looking devices, possibly a treadmill, lol. This is interesting in theory, but in practice...I don't see it working.lol
This doesn't seem all that original... I've seen more than a few instances of pig farmers trapping the methane generated by pig farts.
I visualize a vast tower full of tubing hooked to burping cows powering a massive AI and all the humans are jacked into the other side living in the Mootrix.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
This sounds like it could be a fertile subject for steampunk adaptation! Just imagine herds of cows with tanks attached. For dairy herds, when your cows come in for milking, you would also collect the accumulated methane at the same time. Cows with balloons filled with self generated methane could be flying around the skies!
I guess that's the big question. My gas company charges 14 cents per cubic meter (1000 litres), so if each cow produced 250 litres a day, you'd get about 3.5 cents per day for each head of cattle. Probably not enough to even pay for the food. Especially considering that's the price to the consumer. You're not going to get anywhere close to 14 cents per cubic meter for bulk methane. However, if you're already raising the cattle for milk or meat, it could be a good way to add an extra source of income. Although at the price you could get, you probably wouldn't even end up breaking even on the collection system.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
One time I sneezed half the papers off my desk. They should look into that too because its an awful lot of energy.
If they did this, no doubt the long-term presence of the tubes would cause respiratory infections. TRIPLE THE ANTIBIOTICS.
How about human burps, or better yet, excrement? How about managing to convert all human & animal excrement into fuel, particularly gasoline compatible fuel, that can run in our cars?
It's amazing what we'll do to animals to make a buck...
Really regretting those burritos last night, this fridge is looking at me a bit funny.
The best Dune adapt has been there first.
Great tech, now I can add another reason why I'm a vegetarian.
It would be awesome if every steak or rack of ribs came with a canister of methane that I could plug into my BBQ grill.
Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as half-empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh
Your gas company? How much do they pay per cubic metre? A hell of a lot less than 14c.
I think the word you are looking for is eructos.
Each head of cattle emits between 250 and 300 liters of pure methane a day, enough energy to keep a refrigerator running for 24 hours
Now Frink can make his intra-bovine ice cream maker run directly from cow burps!
Since most cows are life long cell mates why not just make the building airtight and put a methane extractor in your air exchange?
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
It's a bit dated, but http://www.globalmethanefund.org/methane-untappd_potential-12.01.09.pdf gives an overview of the scale of the issue. At 29%, "Enteric fermentation" is the largest class of anthropogenic methane emissions by a large margin.
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
I'm not a veterinarian - nor do I play one on TV - but I understand that the bovine digestive system is really not optimal for digesting what we feed most cows these days (corn). I can't help but wonder if their methane production would go down if we went back to feeding them what they would ordinarily eat.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
:|
I bet it would be
8|
a bit of a cash cow.
My dad used to joke about studies done in the 1970s about the viability of capturing methane from cows. I guess those cows showed him...?
So would the farm animals be in The Meatrix?
But using them as fuel means burning them, which would release both H2O and CO2 into the atmosphere - the latter which is another greenhouse gas.
Still a greenhouse gas but a less potent one. Like if you had cyanide in your bloodstream and I had a magical way to convert it to alcohol. It's still a toxin, but less likely to actually kill you.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
My roommate "predicted" this as part of a speech class in college, early 1975. He also drew up a Fartmobile, tubes coming out from under the seats. He didn't have a solution for the problem that girls don't fart.
Oracle and unix guy.
Forget the belches and farts, cowshit has enough methane. It is far easier to sweep all the solid waste from the cow to retention ponds, cover it with a plastic sheet and collect the methane. It reduces odor pollution, gets methane fuel, and produces non-smelly organic fertilizer. But alas, now that natural gas prices has fallen to through the floor due to fracking, there is no incentive to do it for fuel. Organic fertilizer and odor pollution abatement are the only incentives for this now.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
If each HEAD of the cattle emits so much methane, imagine how much the other end must emit!