Pork is one of the most consumed meats globally. Did you know that each kilogram of pork can emit 5kg of greenhouse gases? The numbers are huge when it comes to the annual consumption around the globe. Production of pork is estimated to emit 668m tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas each year with Methane being one of the gases.
Well, all these numbers, studies and research cannot stop the world from consuming pork or red meat. It is time for technology to tackle the problem of greenhouse gases.
Waste produced by pigs and the maintenance process of swine farms emit a lot of methane. This is a source of electricity and need not be seen as a problem. All those methane give an opportunity to convert the greenhouse gas into electricity.
North Carolina is one of the leading states in the USA for pork production. The swine farms of North Caroline do produce a lot of waste and methane gas. A Duke energy power plant- Charlotte has come up with a technology. The technology uses renewable natural gas and biogas from North Carolina’s swine farms to produce electricity. It is the first large-scale application of the technology from in-state farms.
The technology helps in capturing methane from swine farm waste and relocate it in pipelines. They are relocated to be cleaned and are converted to good quality natural gas. The natural gas is used by Duke energy plant to produce electricity.
Currently, this waste to power technology is able to produce around 11,000 megawatts from 5 farm’s waste. This amount of power can be used by almost 1,000 homes.
This conversion of waste-to-gas-to-electricity can be a sustainable way to reduce the greenhouse gases produced in swine farms. Not just greenhouse gases but also the problem of stench and waste management could be solved with the waste to power conversion technology.
This is an innovative effort to produce pipeline-quality biogas from North Carolina swine farms. Let’s hope more farms take up measures to collectively reduce emissions and support sustainable power generation in future.