C32—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 2,1980 COLUMBIA, Mo. - Energy natural gas and electricity from hog manure! It’s an idea that has taken a lot of kidding. Today, it’s on the brink of being economically feasible for supplying 80 to 90 percent of a hog farm’s thermal and electrical energy needs. Scientists at the Univer sity of Missoun-Columbia built the first successful, completely automated manure digester in corporated into a hog farm in the fall of 1976. That digester converts Love STATE COLLEGE - Gene M. Love, head of the Department of Agricultural Education at the Penn State, has received the Distinguished Service Award of the American Association of Teacher Educators in Agriculture. The award is the highest recognition given in the U.S. for leadership' in teacher education in agriculture. Love received $5OO and a certificate. The occasion was the annual meeting of the association m Anaheim, Calif. Love has been head of the Department of Agricultural Education at Penn State since 1975. In this capacity he is also Director of Vocational Teacher Education at Penn State. He has been instrumental in organizing a comprehensive personnel development THERE ARE TWO WOOD STOVES IN THIS PICTURE The Upland is designed to be used either free standing or vented into an existing fireplace Either way you get two stoves in one SAVE UP TO 75 % ON HEATING BILLS WOOD «£ AT Rt 212, Pleasant Valley Quakertown. Pa. Open: Mon., lues., Thurs. & Fn. 12 to 8; Sat. 9 to 5; Sun. 1 to 5; Closed Wed. Phone 215-346-7894 DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED * *0 DAYS NO FINANCING CHG FINANCING UP TO 30 MONTHS VISA Hog manure - energy, no longer a dark subject manure mto methane or natural gas and subsequent electricity. It was designed to test the practicality of such digesters on American farms. “It works no question about that!” exclaimed James Fischer, UMC agricultural engineer. “It could produce 6000 cubic feet of methane a day, enough to provide 100 percent of the electncty and 90 percent of the thermal energy for the UMC swine farm operation. “And with the cost of electricity and propane honored for center for vocational teacher education. Before coming to Penn State in 1975, Love was coordinator of agricultural education at the University of Missouri for nine years. Prior to this he was a member of the agricultural education faculty at Penn State. He served on the faculty of Stanford University while on assignment in the Philip pines. Following his graduation from Penn State in 1949, he taught agriculture at East Donegal High School, Maytown, until 1951. From 1951 until 1954, he was a graduate fellow in agricultural education at Penn State. He taught briefly at West Chester High School before entering the Air Force in 1954. He received his master of science degree m 1953 and The one you see is an open stove, with all ttie beauty of the open fire place. The one you don't see is an air-tight stove that heats up to 9,000 cu. ft for 10 hours when you close cast iron doors. going up, the economics of these digesters is looking better every minute.” Donald Osburn, UMC agricultural economist, figured that a farmer with a facility that markets 3200 hogs per year (a 250-sow herd) could afford to spend $62,375 for a digester and an engine-generator and still break even if electricity from outside sources was going at 8 cents per kilowatt hour and propane at $l.lO a gallon. It cost $29,000 to build the Missouri digester, which is large enough to process 9.000 teacher education the doctor of philosophy degree in 1954, both from Penn State. In 1971, he received the Education Research Award of the American Institute of Cooperation. He has written numerous articles and papers and has developed many teaching manuals. He is past president of the American Association of / o</jJpq RKj DEUC | OUS AND nutritiou: xfirxJU for you and your fam,ly EMERGE LAST YEAR'S TOTAL SAVINGS - *320718 PRESENT ELECTRIC COST IN AUGUST 1979 - .046 (Kilowatt cost) AT TODAY'S ELECTRIC COSTS THERMA*STOR WOULD SAVE YOU *433.18 PER YEAR Please call for further information or an appointment for us to check out your farm. • PLANNING LAYOUTS • SALES • INSTALLATION • SERVICE SHENK'S FARM SERVICE 501 E. WOODS DRIVE, LITITZ, PA 17543 • Bulk Tanks* Therma*Stor Our Service Trucks are Radio Dispatched cubic feet per day the manure from a 225-sow herd (2800 hogs marketed per year). But that digester was largely an experimental model. A farmer could probably build one for less. Fischer and Osburn say that a methane digester system, m order to be profitable, must serve as a water heater and an electric generator. This is called “co generation” using the heat from the same machine that produces electricity. Also, ui order for a system Teacher Educators in Agriculture and current president of Phi Delta Kappa at Penn State. - Other professional membership include: Alpha Tau Alpha, Gamma Sigma Delta, American Vocational Association, and the National Vocational Agriculture Teachers’ Association. FEBRUARY SPECIAL -ICO/ THE PURCHASE OF lb /o OFF A THERMA*STOR l V V TOTAL ON 25.8 Kilo Per Day x 365 x .034 (Kilowatt cost) like this to be effective, a farmer must have an energy efficient operation; well msulated, environmentally controlled farrowing unit and nursery, plus open front finishing and gestation. “If I were going to build a new hog confinement system today, I’d design it with a manure digester in mind,” says Fischer. “I might not put in the digester today, but I’d have room for it if costs of elec tncty and propane continue to rise.” Manure digestion, ex plained simply, is a matter of methane bacteria con verting manure into natural gas. WHAT A DARI-KOOL THERMA-STOR CAN SAVE YOU With Your Pipeline or Parlor Hot Water Needs Test run by PP&L on Robert Hershberger farm - January 5,1978. Test run thirty days before and after. • 2512 pounds milk per day • R -12 freon gas ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT PER DAY BEFORE THERMASTOR Hot water 34.5 Kilo heater per day Compressor 19.3 Kilo per day SAVINGS ON HOT WATER HEATER - 24.0 Kilo Per Day SAVINGS ON COMPRESSOR -1.8 Kilo Per Day Need... HAY STRAW EAR CORN PEANUT HULLS Buy Now and Save! More and more farmers are buying from us for better value and all around satisfaction. DELIVERED—ANY QUANTITY Phone Area Code 717-687-7631 ESBENSHADE TURKEY FARM PARADISE, PA. AFTER THERMASTOR Hot water 10.43 Kilo heater per day Compressor 17.57 Kilo per day PH: 717-626-1151 24 Hr. Service Offered Basically, one group o£( bacteria converts the manure into volatile acids; another group breaks them into carbon dioxide and hydrogen; and a third group converts the carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methane. “As I see the methane digester of the future,” he said, “I expect it will be converting a lot of biomass besides manure into energy.” Experts expect such biomass digesters to account for only 3 to 5 percent of our energy needs for the future. But in certain places, like farms where the stuff is available, that figure could well be over 90 percent.
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