We have the world’s largest livestock population of 250 million, which produces close to 125 million tonnes of cowdung.
1 cow = o.5 tons of cowdung
The gobar gas research station in Uttar Pradesh has established that one cow gives enough cowdung in a year to produce methane gas equivalent to 225 litres of petrol in energy terms.
0.5 tons of cowdung = 225 litres of petrol
- one kg of methane gas is more or less equal in energy content to one kg of petrol, LPG, kerosene or diesel
- Our petrol consumption in 2003-04 = 8 million tonnes
- A generator needs 200 gm of petrol to produce one kilowatt/hour (kwH) of electrical energy
- The per capita electrical energy consumption in rural area is 112 kwH per annum. Our rural population being 74 crore
- The cowdung of 200 million cows can produce 50 million tonnes of manure, which can be used for two rotations in a year to take care of the fertiliser needs of the entire 143 million hectares in the country.
- If every village (of which we have 6.27 lakh) has 50 farmer families who maintain just two bullocks and four cows each, the cowdung of these animals can produce enough methane gas to take care of country’s entire energy needs, now being met by LPG, kerosene, petrol and LNG. Besides, this livestock can provide rural electricity as well. The West has already started generating biodiesel in a big way. Even in India, trees like pungan, neem, karanji, ratanjyot or jatropha can be grown to produce oil. A thousand such trees can be planted on one hectare, which will yield 10 tonnes of oilseeds, from which 2.5 tonnes of oil can be extracted. This oil can be converted into biodiesel after esterification and used as fuel in diesel engines. Our annual requirement of diesel oil last year was 38 million tonnes.
source: The Times Of India
Interesting on the cow-dung project
could you show in picture how methane direct for cow-dung.
how do you store the gas – or just a free flow of gas direct from the cow-dung. to obtain a lighter light for 24 hours -
how moch cow dung is needed?
thanks
regard
David
i completely agree with you. everything excreted can be converted into Methane.
during my visit to a rural town in India, around 500 kms from Mumbai, i heard of this farmer who bought a dozen cows that no longer can be milked. he bought them really cheap because these cows are of no use.
he developed an innovative shed for these cows. their dung was drained into a huge column where because of anaerobic respiration methane was produced. he used this methane to generate electricity which surprisingly suffices for his daily usage!
Can I please have the name and telephone no. of this goshala (cowshed)? We too have a cowshed where there are 140 cows presently and we too tend to old cows as we are trying to protect them. We are trying to make the cowshed self sufficient in one way or another. You could write to me at ratihegde@yahoo.co.in
Hi Rati,
firstly thank u for leaving a comment here and yr interest in Methane and harnessing Methane.
Unfortunately, though i wanted to visit the place on my own and get a first hand experience of it, i couldn’t make it.
the other reason being that it was mentioned to me by a person who was experimenting with converting household waste to Bio Char. He didn’t have that persons address.
Also, during one of my Biking trips to rural Maharashtra (India) I had stayed over at a farmers place. He has around 6 cows and Buffaloes whose dung is collected in a covered pit and the gas produced is used for cooking.
The process seems viable in the rural areas, esp with people concerned with agriculture has many have applied it. I would suggest if you could Google or search on Youtube for the same.
My vegetarian friends often point out the methane-cow connection as another reason to go vegetarian/vegan. But as a mild meat-eater with no immediate plans to go completely vegetarian/vegan, I’m still concerned about anything that contributes to greenhouse gases. Maybe if we could come up with more ways to offset the methane.
One use for all of that cow dung is as a source of energy-producing fuel, although there probably aren’t any systems in place to make this a large-scale process.
Sterilized cow dung makes an excellent fertilizer. Unfortunately, if it’s not sterilized properly there are serious public health risks to using cow dung on food crops. From what I’ve read, cow dung can essentially sterilize itself since it heats up like compost does, but you need to know what you’re doing to do it right.
Some small companies are now making surprisingly odor-free pots made from cow dung. The pots are biodegradable and are used for plants that are sold at gardening stores, etc. And the fertilizer-included feature is another plus for gardeners. Maybe we’ll start seeing more of this type of product. But it probably won’t use up all the cow dung on the planet
.
Also, the cow-related methane doesn’t only come from the cow dung. It also comes from the digestive system of all ruminants – including cows, goats, and even elephants! They release methane in the gaseous form from both ends (to put it as politely as I know how). If only we could somehow harness that gas and use it as an energy source. But that’d be a pretty stinky job….
On the other hand, some landfills are scheduled to be “mined” for their methane gas, so it’s not a completely unheard of idea to harness methane from unusual sources.