Zoos, Farms, Companies Converting Manure to Compost, Biofuel

By P.J. Heller

   Dan Corum calls himself “the doctor of doo,” the “minister of muck” and the “number one of number two.”Even though he enjoys making fun of his role as compost/recycling coordinator at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, he — and others involved in using manure for compost or biofuel — are deadly serious about their efforts.
   Composting of manure from zoos, horse and dairy farms, and even a massive pig farm operation in Chile which generates some 300,000 tons of waste a year, offers numerous benefits.
   “We’re doing something that’s environmentally sound and also fiscally sound,” Corum explains.
   Depending on the facility, the finished compost is used not only by some of the locations doing the composting but also by homeowners, landscapers, gardeners, municipalities and farms.
   “Returning the nutrients and organic materials back into nature's cycle changes a potential liability into an asset,” notes the King Conservation District in Renton, Wash.
   While some operations such as the Woodland Park Zoo handle composting on-site, others arrange to have outside companies such as Creech Services of Lexington, Ky., hauls off the waste for composting. Still others rely on consulting firms, such as O2Compost in Snohomish, Wash., to help design and set up their composting facilities.
   Creech hauls off muck — straw or wood shavings and sawdust used for horse bedding that is mixed with manure — and separately composts each of the materials on its 20-acre site. Creech deals strictly with horse farms in the Lexington region, one of the largest thoroughbred horse breeding areas in the U.S.
   “Most of the horse farms want to do what is environmentally correct rather than just putting it in the landfill,” notes company spokesman John Thompson.
   Prior to composting, the horse farms would pay to dump the waste in a landfill or “they might have a sinkhole or a spot on the farm where they would just pile it up and let it age and rot,” Thompson says.
   “Most of the time it was going into a landfill and some of it, unfortunately, still does but it’s a very small percentage,” he says. “Some of the horse farms are trying to do composting on their farms and because of the economy, some of them now are broadcasting this muck on their pastures to save money.”
   Creech is finding a ready market for the estimated 30,000 cubic yards of compost it produces each year. Some of it is mixed with a ground hardwood bark mulch that it also produces with the resulting mixture sold at retail as “Living Mulch.” It also sells the straw-based compost as “Thoroughbred Compost” and its wood shaving compost as its “Standard Bred Compost.”
   “People are still becoming educated on compost and the benefits of compost. It’s been a long process and there’s still a long way to go,” Thompson says.
   At the Anchorage Soil and Water Conservation District in Alaska, a project has been launched to convert nearly 44,000 tons of barn waste — most of it manure — into compost. An estimated 5,000 horses are stabled in the Anchorage area; nationwide, there are an estimated 9.2 million horses.
   One horse produces 50-83 pounds of manure and spoiled bedding a day, or more than eight tons a year, according to Rutgers University Equine Science Center.
   “Horse manure composting contributes to the reduction of non-point source pollution from horse manure and results in a useful soil conditioner,” notes Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension. “However, appropriate best management practices need to be followed for proper composting and a good composting quality.”
   “We are working with two local companies that are starting commercial-sized operations, and for property owners that want to compost themselves we are teaching them how and giving affordable, effective options for units that they buy or construct at their cost,” says Ryan Stencell, operations manager for the Anchorage Soil and Waster Conservation District.
   Anchorage officials are also expected to work with O2Compost, a company which describes its vision as wanting “to change our society’s collective thinking from ‘organic waste problem’ to ‘natural resource opportunity’ and to positively impact the world for generations to come.”
   O2Compost relies on aerated static pile (ASP) composting using an electric blower to create airflow through the compost pile. That process does not require physical turning of the compost pile.
   “Most people believe that the compost pile needs to be turned to maintain aerobic conditions,” the company says on its website. “However, when air is introduced into an active compost pile by turning, the oxygen level in the pile drops off very quickly — often to less than 1 percent within 30 to 45 minutes. For this reason, ‘turning the pile’ is an expensive and purely ineffective approach to composting.”
   One result of ASP is that it generates a tremendous amount of heat, explains Peter Moon, president and principal engineer at O2Compost. Alaskan officials are looking at the possibility of utilizing that heat to warm greenhouses.
   “We support the O2 aerated systems for properties with larger amounts of compostables,” Stencell says. “In Alaska, the forced aeration is important for many reasons. In addition, we are exploring the possible ability to harvest heat from compost to heat, in our test case, a greenhouse.”
   In Florida, meanwhile, construction is being planned for gasification to electricity plant. When completed, the plant will turn 50,000 tons of manure and stall waste and another 50,000 tons of yard waste into ash, while creating enough heat to turn a turbine to generate 10 megawatts, enough electricity to power approximately 1,400 homes in Ocala/Marion county.
   The gasification project has received a $2.5 million grant from the Florida Energy and Climate Commission. The grant, to the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association (FTBOA) and its partner, MaxWest Environmental Systems, will be used to purchase waste handling and processing equipment for the $38 million plant.
   Ocala/Marion County is described as the “horse capital of the world,” with 431 thoroughbred breeding and training farms.
   “With more than 35,000 thoroughbred horses in the county, there’s a lot of horse waste,” says Richard Hancock, executive vice president of FTBOA. “That’s why the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been encouraging our industry to find a cost-effective, environmentally friendly way to dispose of manure from FTBOA members and other area horse breeders and owners. MaxWest’s technology will provide a solution.”
   Negotiations on a power purchasing agreement with the utility company were currently being held. The plant is not expected to be online until the second quarter of 2010, according to David Moore of MaxWest.
   In Michigan, the Scenic View Dairy claims to be the first farm operation in the United States to produce both electricity and pipeline quality gas from dairy and pig manure. The process utilizes anaerobic digestion, turning the waste into electricity and natural gas; the leftover product is used as bedding for cows while leftover liquid is sprayed as fertilizer onto crops.
   As of early 2009, there are 125 farm-scale digesters operating at commercial livestock farms nationwide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Six of the installations are systems that provide manure treatment for multiple farms, it notes.
   In the Melipilla Central Valley in Chile, said to have one of the highest concentrations of pigs in the world with some 1.2 million animals, four facilities located near the pig production areas compost the animal waste. Prior to that happening, the waste goes through a digester to produce biogas, which can be used to create electricity. Water from the digester can be used on forests and field crops such as corn and wheat. Further purification of the water, for use in fruit orchards and vineyards, is accomplished in an activated sludge plant. The manure and sludge is separated out and taken to the composting area.
   Before the treatment and compost processes were implemented, animal wastes went into open lagoons.
   The entire operation is part of Agrosuper, the giant food producing conglomerate in Chile which markets its products, including meats and fruits, worldwide. The company exports more than 20,000 tons of meat and beef and more than two million boxes of fruit.
   “Even though compost is not well known in the market, Melipilla Central Valley offers a tremendous potential for a variety of compost users, such as fruit, wine yards and ornamental in close proximity plus high inputs of fertilizer,” says Monica Ozores-Hampton, a research associate at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, part of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Science.
   “Composting high-density pig manure can be successfully achieved and the final compost can have a high quality in the Chilean market,” she said in a presentation at the 2009 annual conference of the U.S. Composting Council.
   In the Seattle area, meantime, Woodland Park Zoo’s “Zoo Doo” compost has become a hot seller since composting began there in 1984. It also sells a second fertile mulch, also made from manure and animal bedding, but which contains wood chips and sawdust.
   “It’s not just compost. It’s a movement,” touts the zoo’s telephone “poop line,” which promises callers that they’ll “always get the straight poop.”
   The zoo’s compost — it generates about 1,000 yards of its zoo doo each year — is so popular that a lottery is held twice a year. Winners come to the spring or fall “fecal fest” to purchase what Corum refers to as the “end product.” Composting the animal wastes saves the zoo about $50,000 a year in tipping fees at the landfill. Its sale of the compost generates $15,000 to $20,000.
   “A large part of it is education with the public of how to make best use of something that’s considered waste and turning it into a valuable product,” Corum says.
   The composting program also ties in nicely with the zoo’s overall mission, he notes. “The zoo is a conservation organization,” explains Corum, who has been at the zoo for five years.“ ”Our job is to save animals and save their habitat. One of the ways we can do that is to reduce our impact on the planet. So if we can make use of these various resources, that’s one way we can do it.
   “It’s not just what doesn’t go to the landfill,” he adds. “It’s also not having to rely on synthetic fertilizers to have great gardens.”
   Woodland Park Zoo is among a number of zoos around the country that have launched compost programs. At Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, composting has been under way since 1997, which includes up to 400 pounds of elephant manure a day.
   “When it comes to poop,” Corum says, “you don’t have to be 3 or 4 [years of age] to have a good time with it.”