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Lone Star State Taps Cow Power
The cows on Keith Broumley's Texas farm are not just producing milk—they're also providing energy and improving the quality of a local watershed. What's their secret? Broumley's farm houses the nation's first dairy digester to produce energy from animal waste in the form of methane gas while also removing excess nutrients from the farm's wastewater.
The anaerobic digester works by breaking down the farm's organic waste with the help of bacteria. Methane gas, released during this process, is captured to produce power. In this case, the energy produced will provide electricity to Broumley's farm, with any excess being sold to the local power cooperative. As an added bonus, the digesting process, which takes about two weeks, will also produce valuable compost that will be used and sold as a crop fertilizer.
But that's not all. Unlike conventional digesters, this new model removes approximately 80 percent of the phosphorus from the farm's wastewater. Excess phosphorus can cause algae blooms in water bodies, leading to a bad taste and odor.
The successful adoption of this digester will provide farmers with a system to manage their waste and bring in extra income-helping them stay in business and potentially grow. The data gathered from Broumley's digester will help determine the applicability of this system to other agricultural operations throughout the nation.
Funding for the $1.2 million project was leveraged through a grant from EPA's Office of Water Nonpoint Source program as well as from matching funds from nonfederal agencies.
For More Information:
- AgSTAR - Voluntary outreach program, jointly supported by the Departments of Agriculture and Energy, which is designed to reduce methane emissions from livestock waste management operations through anaerobic digesters.
- Regional Administrator Tours Dairy - Region 6 News Story
- Combined Heat and Power Partnership - Voluntary partnership that seeks to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by promoting cogeneration, a clean and reliable approach to producing power from a single fuel source, such as animal waste.