Case Study: Farms Turn Green Manure into Green Energy
There are about 10 million stabled horses in North
America, and each one produces a tonne of waste a
month, according to GreenScene Agritek Inc. founder
Phil Wilford, who has developed a process for recycling
that waste and turning it into energy.
While developing a process for treating chicken manure
to address concerns about pathogens during the avian
flu outbreak in 2005, Wilford learned that eh real
market for manure treatment process was in stables.
Racetracks and stable typically used sawdust and
shavings in their stalls. Some used bedding in the fields
as fertilizer, but is high lignin content means that using
too much of it is not good for the soil. Many stable owners simply pile the stuff up and let it decompose.
Wilford developed a thermal process that bakes the pathogens out of used bedding. The end product can be sold back
to the stables for re-use. Wilford’s company has a pilot plant in Ladner (BC) that’s now producing recycle horse bedding.
But recently. His company received $146 600 in funding under the Canada-BC. Agri-Innovation Program to develop a
secondary product: fuel pellet.
Wilford is now working on a process that would compress the treated bedding into fuel pellets, which greenhouses
could then burn for fuel pellets. Because a processing plant would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million, it only
makes economic sense to build it in a region with 1500 to 2000 horses, where stable owners can form a consortium.
Burnaby-based Diacarbon Energy Inc. is also receiving Agri-Innovation Program funding to add farm waste to the stock
from which it creates biochar – a kind of clean coal that can be used either as a fuel or for soil enhancement. Diacarbon’s
pilot plant in Burnaby is already producing biochar from wood waste. With $142 575 from the Agri-innovation Program,
the company aims to develop a blended feedstock that includes chicken manure and waste from mushroom farming.
Animal manure has a high mineral content, so when it’s turned into biochar, up to 60% of it becomes ash. That creates a
problem of what to do with the ash by-product. Wood waste produces only 2% to 3% ash, said Diacarbon found and
President Jerry Ericsson, so it makes a good blending material.
Currently, Farm waste in North America is being composted, landfilled and used as fertilizer. “The problem is we’re
putting more on the fields that we should be,” Ericsson said. “There gets to problems with water issues. This is – we
think- a better way of dealing with that waste stream. What we’re doing with this grant is blending wood and other
materials to create high-quality fuels.”
The U.S. department of Agriculture estimates that more than 335 million tonnes of manure are produced annually on
farms in the U.S. – about one third of its total municipal and industrial waste output. A single dairy farm with 2500 cows
produces a volume of waste equivalent to a city with a population of 411 000.
Jackson , Ann, Ellen Murray , et al, et al. Environmental Science: A Canadian Perspective. 1. Whitby: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2013. Print.
Analyze
1. Often, excess manure is simply piled up and left to sit. Describe some of the negative environmental
consequences of this practice (Hint: think about nearby water sources, bacteria, and run-off)
2. Why is biochar a good way to dealing with manure wastes? What advantage(s) does it have over other
alternatives?
Communicate
3. Do you think the government should be funding projects like those describe in the case study? Describe your
view in a brief paragraph, providing at least two supporting statements for your opinion.
Jackson , Ann, Ellen Murray , et al, et al. Environmental Science: A Canadian Perspective. 1. Whitby: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2013. Print.