July 29, 2006

Iowa State Researchers Convert Cow-Shit into Bio-Oil

>low-cost and low-odor drying PLUS fast pyrolysis

"The way I see manure, it's not waste anymore," (Samy) Sadaka (an associate scientist for Iowa State's Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies) said. "It is bio-oil."

Preliminary tests indicate every kilogram of dried mixture produces .2 to .5 kilograms of bio-oil depending on the operating conditions.

Sadaka said the energy content of dry manure* is 12 to 18 gigajoules per ton.

press release

>in case you're wondering: 1 ton of oil equivalent (toe) = 10000000 kilocalories = 41.868 gigajoules = 40.047 x 10 X6th BTU = 42.244 GJ

~From the chart below (and the numbers above) Iowa's primo bio-oil has an energy value somewhere between green and dry wood? It probably doesn't burn as clean.

On second thought is this* saying dry manure before it's mixed with husks and converted into bio-oil, has an energy content of 12 to 18 gigajoules per ton? Which would make bio-oils BTU's less than half that of wood!?

It's plentiful and renewable and shit has to be somewhere; might as well burn it?

ENERGY VALUES
Btu per lb:
wood: green 4,400
dry 7,310
peat, sod 6,200
lignite 9,000
coke 12,100
coal: bituminous 13,000
anthracite 4,500
oil: fuel 18,500
gas 19,500

---from Oil Industry Conversions @

~I still like the euphemism 'bio-oil'.

Posted by Stubbornson at July 29, 2006 11:07 AM