Brilliant Pig Farmers in China

[YankeyMCC]

(snip)
The local speciality in the Liajiang valley, in western China, is fatty pork. It's not terribly good for you, but it is delicious.

So it's not not surprising that the people here value their pigs. And they've now found a use for them apart from in the cooking pot.

The pigs who live with them inevitably produce a lot of muck.

But muck contains lots of energy, and some 10,000 families are putting it to good use: shovelling it up and putting it in a pit in their backyards. There it stews, brewing methane gas which flows along a small rubber pipe directly into the kitchen stove.

For these families, there's no need for firewood and a good deal less smoke.

(snip)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4854258.stm

There's a lot more to the article about China and its push for 'renewable' energy reliance but I just thought we could at least get a grin out of this bit first.

I wonder why pig farmers haven't done this (has there been no good way to get the methan to the stove before rubber tubes?) for centuries.


PS: Speaking as a carnovore it's also nice to know there's still good fatty pork to be had in the world ;)

[JohnyCanuck]

1. Organic Waste-Powered Cars

Chris Maltin arrived with a sunny smile at the Dream Farm workshop organised by ISIS on a bright, clear Saturday morning in January 2006.

He has driven to the venue at Kindersley Centre in Sheepdrove Organic Farm Berkshire in his Mercedes People Carrier, and was eager to show it off to everybody. It is not just any Mercedes People Carrier, but one specially built to run on methane gas; and not just any methane gas, but methane obtained from treating organic wastes in a special anaerobic digester that Maltin has designed.

Maltin, founder and CEO of Organic Power Ltd., a company based in Somerset, has been keen on anaerobic digestion for many years. “Anaerobic digestion converts biomass directly to useful fuel without any intermediate steps, the conversion efficiency is very high compared to other alternatives such as bioethanol or biodiesel.” He says. “It can handle a variety of wet substrates ranging from green garden waste, septic tank wastes, kitchen waste, energy crops and a variety of other organic materials in industrial byproducts or wastes.” (See “Dream Farm” SiS 27; and “Dream Farm II”, SiS 29.)

SNIP

Some 200 m tonnes of municipal solid wastes are generated each year in the European Community, 4 60 to 70 percent of which is probably organic. In addition, hundreds of tonnes of livestock manure and crop wastes are produced on European farms. Much of this organic waste is going to waste in landfills or incinerators. The UK topped the league of EU nations by sending more than 70 percent of its municipal wastes to landfills in 2003,5 releasing methane into the atmosphere and poisoning land and water.

Instead of which, the organic wastes could be treated in anaerobic digesters to provide methane for fuel, rich fertilisers for crops, and much cleaner land, water and air.

“Using biogas produced from organic materials in the UK and uprating this to renewable natural gas could provide 20 percent UK's vehicle fuel.” Says Chris Maltin.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Waste-Powered-Cars.php

[Minnesota Libra]

2. Why haven't our animals farmers done this? Seems to me this............

.....could be adapted by cows, chickens (all foul), sheep, etc.

[HereSince1628]

4. It is done. It's just not all that common - - yet.

[Minnesota Libra]

5. Well, then maybe we need to publicize this more and even...........

......devote money toward expanding the practice.

A question here: Who could we go to with this to see that it is actually taken seriously and acted on??

[HereSince1628]

6. Stories about it show up often enought in ag-news on tv and

in rural papers. If someone has a search engine that includes rural news papers they could probably find articles with no problem.

And it isn't new. I know that I read DIY articles on this is Mother Earth News way back in the 70's.

Also some municipal sewage treatment plants collect methane from the sewage and use it for heating rather than burning it off.

[liberal N proud]

3. Essentially the pig is cooked with gas from it's own shit

I bet the smell is something to be desired.

[Ready4Change]

9. Escaped odor means escaped energy.

Other than loading waste into the tank, or occasionally cleaning processed material out of the tank, you shouldn't have any more odor than you normally have with an farming operation. Might actually have less smell, as you wouldn't have pools of uncovered waste anymore.

[LiberalEsto]

7. The "natural gas shortage" is a load of...

I often wonder what would happen if everyone with a yard had a methane digester. We might be able to ultimately eliminate sewage treatment plants, and the need for a natural gas infrastructure.

[Burried News]

8. From the same muck a few hundred years ago, gunpowder

was discovered. The 'soil' in the pens was high in nitrates and would burn like our (their)'sparklers' do on the fourth of july.

Here in the US our local farmers are grinding up chicken shit and leftover pieces of gypsum board (sheet rock) thrown out by home builders. Goes for close to $10 for an 80lb bag and is great for amendning clay soils.

The inventiveness and frugal nature of farmers is sorely needed - unfortunately we have gone to corporate farming. Our corporate pig farmers have come up with a 'solution' to the pig waste problem. Spray it into the air and evaporate much of it so that their million gallon collection ponds don't stink so bad.

[Ready4Change]

10. Gypsum board?

As in drywall? Dont mean to hijack the thread, but what benefit does the gypsum provide in that mix?

I ask because I'm completing a home renovation project, and am about to throw out wasted drywall. And I've got some major (red) clay soils I'd like to garden in.

[Burried News]

11. Yes gypsum board as in drywall.

If you buy it at Loews it comes in 50 lb bags for $5. It looks like pelletized lime and can be put down with a spreader, but I just used it in some of my flower beds.

My neighbor was a Farmer and says if you have clay, it and sand help to break the clay up.

I put down a whole bags in one spot last year just to get rid of it. I have some Azalia's and Canalillies. Everything is doing great.

I don't know chemically why it should work on clay. Since the wallboard resembles plaster of Paris you would think it would make things worse.