(Image Credit: CBS)
Biomass continues to be a promising source for energy and a few recent breakthroughs are worth noting; Â specifically in the arena of pig manure. Before jumping into the manure, the more exciting news is how multiple technologies are evolving – including wind and solar power – to provide permanent power solutions. Biomass may now have a more important piece to play, and pigs may have provided that answer.
Promising Pig Manure
While you may not normally get excited about this topic, researchers over at University of Illinois may give you a change of heart. Using a new process, they believe they can produce up to two barrels of oil per day from their 3,000 pigs. They currently produce about two gallons, but that is without their next phase which will allow the team to grow more algae.
While two barrels per day per 3,000 pigs may not sound like much, consider this: the manure used to be hauled off at great expense to the University. Now the manure can be used to generate income or at least reduce costs by using the oil for electricity or fuel. Further, the manure used to go to a local sewage plant, which now has less waste to manage.
Methane Concerns
One of the primary concerns of biomass is that most processes release a great deal of methane, which can in the long-term be far more damaging to the environment than tradition carbon emissions. Enter firms like FlexEnergy who are now able to convert this methane into its own fuel source.
Methane production during in biomass energy processing is generally too slow to burn directly. This means you cannot simply connect a methane-burning solution right into the pig manure plant and burn off the Methane as it is produced. But FlexEnergy developed a method of slowly burning off the Methane.
The firm describes the process as being more like “chemically cooking” the methane so that it burns much more slowly and at lower temperatures. These temperatures still reach in excess of 1700 Fahrenheit, so the process can be used to generate electricity or heat water.
Traditional Methane pipelines burn gas at about 80% concentrations of Methane. The FlexEnergy design does so at 1.5%.
Fuel Cells
Another way to use biomass for energy is through the use of fuel cells. Using steam, these systems have waste products of distilled water. Natural gas is the standard form of power for fuel cells, but now Methane may be a source.
Building on the pig manure and Methane burning solutions, ClearEdge now has standalone fuel cells capable of producing 8.5 megawatts of power from Methane. What makes this technology so exciting is the massive advancement in power generation. Using slow producing Methane sources plus natural gas, the ClearEdge systems could be a legitimate way to convert what used to be a waste product that consumed resources into a power generation product.
Tying Technologies Together
When combined with other renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, fuel cells could be answer for permanent alternative power. Solar and wind power come and go depending upon the weather conditions. Fuel cells can then kick in and keep the lights on using natural gas only when needed. Fossil fuels not needed. Better yet, the byproducts would be water.
Who would have thought pig poo could be so exciting!
