November 24, 2010

Chinese dairy gears up cow-pat power

Liaoning-based Huishan Dairy is installing the world's largest system to turn steaming cow pats into enough electricity to power thousands of homes, according to reports.

The device is 10 times bigger than similar systems and will take the excrement from 60,000 cows and capture methane from the fermenting pats, sources said.

It will generate almost six megawatts of electricity - enough power for more than 3,500 households.

The dairy imports 3,000 cows from Australia every month just to sustain its massive stock of 250,000 cows.

The project could draw attention to the possibilities of biogas, especially since China's rapidly growing dairy farming industry is a major new source of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Huishan's new system will prevent methane, which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, from reaching the atmosphere.

It will also reduce waste and odours, and produce a valuable organic fertiliser that is safer than raw manure, according to reports.

China has become the biggest source of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming and the government has embarked on a huge programme to develop renewable energies such as hydroelectric, wind and other power sources.

The Chinese government estimates that millions of small farms already have such primitive manure digesters, the reports said.