Now Farm Livestock Can Help You “Fill ’or Up”
Maybe you can’t make a silk
purse out of a sow’s ear. But how
about generating energy from
cow manure?
“The process actually is quite
simple and will be demonstrated
at 1973 Agricultural Progress
Days” says Dr. Donald Harter,
Chairman of the Environmental
Improvement Exhibits Com
mittee, and Penn State Area
Resource Development Agent.
The event will be held August 28-
29-30 at Milton Hershey School
Farms, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Those attending will see a
novel, anaerobic, methane gas
generator designed and built by
two members of the En
vironmental Improvement
Committee Lebanon County
Agent Glenn E. Miller and
Assistant County Agent Newton
J. Bair - who are on the staff of
Pennsylvania State University’s
Cooperative Extension Service.
Methane gas, the principal
component of natural gas, is a
product of microbial digestion
(decomposition) under anaerobic
conditions. The gas producing
reactions proceed best at a
temperature range of 85 degrees
to 105 degrees.
Methane is colorless, odorless,
it burns cleanly, and is relatively
pollution free. It already is used
to power fleets of cars in a
number of cities, including
Philadelphia.
The potential for producing
methane from agricultural
wastes is enormous. The organic
r
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Newton J. Bair, Lebanon County Extension Agent, is shown
running his garden tractor with methane gas generated from
decomposing cow manure.
waste from 100,000 cattle has the
potential of supplying the natural
gas needs of 30,000 people. In
Pennsylvania 700,000 milk cows
alone produce an estimated 1.75
million tons of dry organic wastes
yearly.
Dr. Harter points out, “The
methane digestor was built for
1973 Ag Progress Days for three
reasons: to demonstrate the
energy producing potential of
agricultural wastes; to en
courage “futuristic” interest in
using anaerobic digesters as part
of a farm’s system for holding
and disposing of manure; and as
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CHAS. J. McCOMSEY
&SONS
Hickory Hill, Pa.
LANDIS BROS., INC,
Lancaster
a reminder that the use of
methane fuel can contribute
toward environmental im
provement by helping to alieviate
air pollution.”
Research on methane gas
production from manure has
been carried out in Germany
since the 1940’5, subsequently at
lowa State University; and a few
other U. S. universities; and at
the Gobar Gas Research Station
in Etawah, India.
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India, where there currently are
over 2500 methane gas digesters
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N.G. HERSHEY& SON
Manheim
STOLTZFUS
FARM SERVICE
Cochranville, Pa.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 28,1973 —
what actually convinced Miller
and Bair that they ought to try
their own methane from manure
system,” Dr. Harter said.
Professor Ram Bux Singh,
Director of the Gobar Station,
provided a how-to-do-it manual
and a literature search provided
additional information to get
started.
The 30-gallon capacity digestor
built by Miller and Bair consists
of several used steel drums, a few
angle irons, an electric heating
element, some gas pipe fixtures
donated by the Lebanon UGI gas
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company, an old refrigerator
compressor, and a hydraulic
fluid tank
The digestor is filled with an
equal mixture of cow manure and
water. An electric heating
element is used to heat the water
to about 90 degrees.
The gas produced by their
digestor is about 65 per cent
methane, 30 per cent carbon"
dioxide, and 5 per cent other
gases. The pair’s log indicates an
average daily production of about
2.5 cubic feet of gas throughout
(Continued On Page 14)
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13