The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Cow Manure As Bio-Fuel

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Abstract

This project is the first graduation project for the department of energy engineering, it shows a basic research study project that show the advantages and disadvantages of using cow manure as bio-fuel to create energy, this project is considered the introduction to a more complicated study to be done on a later stage.

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Introduction

Methodology

Advantages of production of energy using cow manure

Natural gas is the cleanest type of burning fossil fuel and making natural gas out of cow manures will have many advantages

1) It would turn wastes produced by cow -a major source of carbon pollution- into a useful source of energy.

2) It is a new source of natural gas, which is much cleaner than source than coal and oil.

3) Reduce the need of fracking to extract the natural gas from the earth, which is an environmentally-destructive process.

4) It is more reliable than other renewable sources available, for example solar and wind technology are very much dependent on weather conditions but biogas production is continuous regardless of weather conditions.

5) Instead of disposing of these organic wastes to landfills, we will be able to reuse them to biogas.

6) It helps in creating new job opportunities in rural areas where organic wastes are most found.

Disadvantages of production of energy using cow manure

1) Technology of these types of systems are still not very mature; so it is still not possible to simplify this process to make it abundant and low cost, this also means that it is not possible to create large scale plants to satisfy high population demands.

2) Even when cleaning or filtering biogas, it contains impurities, so when used to power certain types of motors it can corrode the engine.

3) It is not feasible to build in the middle of cities; you need to be close to the production of the raw materials.

Effects on environment

This type of energy production mostly has a positive effect on the environment for many reasons. First of all it happens without the use of oxygen which means there is no form of combustion involved in the process, however CO2 is produced in the biological breakdown process, but the biogas produced here is far less than the one produced by the burning of fossil fuel. Also, it reduces the amount of organic wastes inn landfills, since it these wastes will be used to produce energy instead of being thrown in landfills and having toxic liquids draining down to underground water sources and polluting them. Finally, it reduces the need of fracking - the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc. - to extract the natural gas from the earth, which is an environmentally-destructive process since it has many disadvantages such as:

1) Contamination of groundwater.

2) Methane pollution and its impact on climate change.

3) Air pollution impacts.

4) Exposure to toxic chemicals.

5) Blowouts due to gas explosion.

6) Waste disposal.

7) Large volume water use in water-deficient regions.

8) Fracking-induced earthquakes.

Manure composition

Manure is composed of animal feces and urine and may contain livestock bedding, additional water and wasted feed. It is a valuable fertilizer that contains a broad range of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) as well as micronutrients such as copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn).