Cow Burps To Provide Fuel ?

[PaulBee]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/argentine-scientists-tap-cow-burps-natural-gas Argentina has discovered that the gas from cow burps could be used to provide power and help the environment. OK, no jokes about new careers for politicians.

 

[scotttswan]

Using a system of valves and pumps, the experimental technique developed by Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) channels the digestive gases from bovine stomach cavities through a tube and into a tank.

wait what? they're going to have pipes going from their stomachs direct to a tank?

This doesn't sound very practical or particularly nice to the cows....

 

[gusgutier]

Using a system of valves and pumps, the experimental technique developed by Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) channels the digestive gases from bovine stomach cavities through a tube and into a tank.

wait what? they're going to have pipes going from their stomachs direct to a tank?

This doesn't sound very practical or particularly nice to the cows....

Cows are already connected to milking systems around the world.
In the other hand, here is a link with tips for build your own biodigestor (sorry in Spanish, but for sure you can get one in English) http://energiacasera.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/biodigestor-casero-de-bidon/

 

[Ries]

My neighbors in the US have been doing this for some time.
http://www.farmpower.com/
Their process is already perfected, and being sold to small dairy farms thruout the northwest.

 

[scotttswan]

Cows are already connected to milking systems around the world. In the other hand, here is a link with tips for build your own biodigestor (sorry in Spanish, but for sure you can get one in English) http://energiacasera.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/biodigestor-casero-de-bidon/

Its one thing connecting udders to milking systems. Unless the article on Yahoo is wrong, this system is basically using this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannulated_cow

My neighbors in the US have been doing this for some time. http://www.farmpower.com/ Their process is already perfected, and being sold to small dairy farms thruout the northwest.

This uses manure rather than pipes connected directly to cows stomachs?

 

[gusgutier]

Its one thing connecting udders to milking systems. Unless the article on Yahoo is wrong, this system is basically using this http://en.wikipedia..../Cannulated_cow

This uses manure rather than pipes connected directly to cows stomachs?

What I could find is this http://www.taringa.net/posts/noticias/10667966/INTA-juntara-pedos-de-vaca.html

 

[EricLovesBA]

What I could find is this http://www.taringa.n...os-de-vaca.html

Your article references this Popular Science article:
http://www.popsci.com/molika-ashford/article/2008-09/gaseous-state?webSyncID=21d76951-ad63-39d5-22b1-9b20e0810963&sessionGUID=2c0892e6-50eb-46db-e44e-694c2713c3e9

"In a lush pasture near Buenos Aires, this cow and its compatriots are digesting important information: how much methane—a greenhouse gas 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide—is released by the country's 55 million bovines. Researchers from Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology connected inflatable tanks to the cows' first stomach, where methane is made, through a small hole between their ribs.

By measuring methane production directly inside each cow, biologist Silvia Valtorta hopes to more accurately determine the country's overall agricultural contribution to global warming. According to the data, an average cow releases more than 70 gallons of the stuff every day. But a change in diet could reduce that. Cows that eat mostly grain produce 20 to 25 percent less methane than grazing cows, and adding tannin—a bitter chemical found in wine—to the feed could lower it further."

So yes, as we suspected, not too much fun for the cow.