Cow Manure Methane May Soon Fuel Cars, Heat Homes in Arizona
upstart writes:
Cow manure methane may soon fuel cars, heat homes in Arizona:
A new energy facility southwest of Phoenix scheduled to open in December will capture methane from cow manure and reuse the biogas as renewable natural fuel.
Facility stakeholders told The Arizona Republic the process will capture harmful gases that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere and exacerbate climate change.
The project is a partnership between West Virginia-based renewable energy company Avolta and the Butterfield Dairy Farm in Buckeye.
[...] Unlike electric utilities in Arizona, which must generate 15% of their energy from renewable sources by 2025, Southwest Gas has no such required standard, according to the newspaper.
[...] Avolta officials said the emissions savings from Butterfield Dairy will be equivalent to removing 3,500 cars from the road each year. Combined with the upcoming Maricopa facility, emissions savings will equate to 8,000 cars off the road.
Some 10 million gallons (38 million liters) of cow manure will be stored in an underground sealed container at the Avolta site for about 22 days at a time while it undergoes the "anaerobic digestion" process that creates biogas.
[...] The Butterfield cows' waste will transform into biogas, mostly made up of methane and carbon dioxide, and digestate - leftover manure stripped of most of its methane and carbon dioxide.
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