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.