White Paper - Waste Remediation

Farmers operating dairies, hog farms, poultry farms, turkey farms, and confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have a major challenge in dealing with the large quantities of manure produced by the livestock they raise. Manure makes an excellent fertilizer, but it is expensive to transport. For this reason, it is often applied to cropland near the farm. However, if more fertilizer is applied than can be absorbed by the soil and crops, the fertilizer can contaminate surface water such as streams and lakes. The nutrients in the fertilizer cause growths of algae that kill fish and damage aquatic habitats.

Anaerobic digestion and gasification are two ways of reducing nutrient loads and manure volume. Renewable energy systems using these technologies convert manure into gas for electric production, solids for animal bedding or potting soil, and fertilizer. They can reduce the nutrient content of manure by 25% or more and reduce 99% or more of harmful bacteria and other organisms in manure. See complete paper.

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