Gas from cow manure will be used to heat 11,000 rural Texas homes in the nation's biggest operation to convert manure to methane.
An $18.5 million plant in Huckabay Ridge, about 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Texas, solves two problems, locally and globally.
It gets rid of the 141 pounds of manure each of the 52,000 dairy cows in rural Erath County produces daily, and it creates a new energy source that doesn't pump additional tons of carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas," into the atmosphere.
The plant, operated by Micrology Inc., a subsidiary of Environmental Power Corp. of Portsmith, N.H.,, collects dry manure from nearby dairies, mixes it with water, feeds it into a million-gallon basin and then pumps it into eight huge silos, called digesters, each holding more than 900,000 gallons, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
There, other waste products -- oils and fats from restaurants -- are added to boost the bacteria that break down manure into methane.
The gas, with a little treatment, then goes into a natural gas pipeline along with conventional gas from wells.
Environmental Power President Rich Kessel said he needed $4.70 to $5.30 per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas to make money. Natural gas sold on the New York Commodities Exchange for about $7.86 per 1,000 cubic feet Tuesday.
Microgy plans to build three more plants in Texas and three in California next year.
An $18.5 million plant in Huckabay Ridge, about 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Texas, solves two problems, locally and globally.
It gets rid of the 141 pounds of manure each of the 52,000 dairy cows in rural Erath County produces daily, and it creates a new energy source that doesn't pump additional tons of carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas," into the atmosphere.
The plant, operated by Micrology Inc., a subsidiary of Environmental Power Corp. of Portsmith, N.H.,, collects dry manure from nearby dairies, mixes it with water, feeds it into a million-gallon basin and then pumps it into eight huge silos, called digesters, each holding more than 900,000 gallons, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
There, other waste products -- oils and fats from restaurants -- are added to boost the bacteria that break down manure into methane.
The gas, with a little treatment, then goes into a natural gas pipeline along with conventional gas from wells.
Environmental Power President Rich Kessel said he needed $4.70 to $5.30 per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas to make money. Natural gas sold on the New York Commodities Exchange for about $7.86 per 1,000 cubic feet Tuesday.
Microgy plans to build three more plants in Texas and three in California next year. |
