plant is the first in the nation that uses cattle manure to make the gas

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=46&u_sid=2237996

Published Thursday
September 7, 2006

Mead's ethanol plant praised

BY BILL HORD


WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

MEAD, Neb. - An innovative "closed-loop" ethanol plant near Mead was lauded Thursday for its environmental benefits by the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said it was no coincidence that he chose the E3 Biofuels plant as the location for an announcement about renewable fuels regulations.

"This is a great success story in the making," Johnson said under a bright sun near a 30,000-head cattle feedlot and a shiny new ethanol plant.

The E3 Biofuels plant is the first in the nation that uses cattle manure to make the gas to fuel the ethanol plant's boilers. In making ethanol, the plant turns out a grain byproduct that is fed back to the cattle.

The plant has begun to make methane gas from the manure and will begin making ethanol next month.

Johnson's trip to Nebraska was more to promote biofuels than to talk about details of regulations. He said Nebraska crop fields that have filled the nation's breadbasket will now also fill fuel tanks.

New regulations will require fuel importers and blenders to document their use of renewable fuels such as corn-based ethanol and soybean-based diesel. The EPA will report annually on how the nation is moving toward the federal requirement that the nation's gasoline supply include 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2012.

Farm states, such as Nebraska and Iowa, are experiencing a proliferation of ethanol production. Total use of biofuels is expected to far exceed the 7.5 billion-gallon requirement well before 2012.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Mmmmmm soylent brown..... tasty! Good news for the world. n/t

[kestrel91316]

2. Nice to see that SOME engineers have got their thinking caps on finally.

[Viking12]

3. They're puttin' the cows to good use around here too!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11059631/

MILWAUKEE - When dairy farmer Gary Boyke looks out at the manure his herd produces, he sees the prospect of profits rather than waste, odors and water pollution.

Boyke is one of a growing number of farmers turning animal waste into energy, and he’s spreading the word to others. He will be among those giving presentations at a conference Tuesday in Madison on ways farmers can turn manure into money.

Boyke, who has 1,300 cows on his Vir-Clar Farm near Fond du Lac, said he gets two to three times the energy he needs with an anaerobic digester, which uses bacteria on manure to produce a gas containing methane to power generators.

-snip-

A dozen such digesters are in operation in Wisconsin, five are under construction and 15 others are planned, said Larry Krom, business sector manager of the state Focus on Energy’s renewable energy program.

[IDemo]

4. Idaho's manure-to-natural gas plant is first of its kind

01:58 PM MDT on Friday, September 1, 2006

Associated Press

RUPERT -- A company that turns dairy cow manure into methane is expanding to produce enough gas energy to power 5,000 homes.

Intrepid Technology and Resources Incorporated is adding an additional eight digester tanks to handle manure from 6,500 cows at Whitesides Dairy near this southcentral Idaho town.

The company's president, Jacob Dustin, says methane plants could a be viable addition to natural gas availability in the country.

He says each dairy in Idaho could become a source for alternative energy.

The project at Whitesides Dairy is a partnership with Utah State University.

The gas will be sent through a pipeline and sold to Intermountain Gas Company.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/business/stories/ktvbn-sep0106-manure_plant.5922d7c7.html