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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #153837
Title: METHANE FROM GIN AND DAIRY WASTES

Author
item Funk, Paul
item Armijo, Carlos
item HANSON, ADRIAN - NMSU, LAS CRUCES, NM
item SAMANI, ZOHRAB - NMSU, LAS CRUACES, NM
item SMITH, GEOFFREY - NMSU, LAS CRUCES, NM
item RIORDAN, SKYE - NMSU, LAS CRUCES, NM

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/8/2003
Publication Date: 8/1/2003
Citation: Funk, P.A., Armijo, C.B., Hanson, A.T., Samani, Z.A., Smith, G.B., Riordan, S.J.T. Methane from gin and dairy wastes. In: Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences. 2003 Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 6-10, 2003, Nashville, Tennessee. 2003 CDROM. p. 2528-2532.

Interpretive Summary: Disposing of cotton gin trash is an economic liability for some cotton gins. This research reports on results of trials seeking optimum operation parameters for a process that converts gin trash and dairy manure into natural gas. Engineering design data for a prototype resulted.

Technical Abstract: Economically productive alternatives to gin trash disposal would benefit the ginning industry. Combining gin and dairy wastes in a two-phase anaerobic system produces methane gas and a class A soil amendment. This optimization experiment indicated process completion in three weeks is possible with temperatures above 32 C (90 F), mixture ratios abeve 5:1 (gin to dairy waste, dry basis) and twice daily wettig of the solid phase. Ten percent of the mass was converted to soluble chemical oxygen demand, which potentially can be converted to methane in the second phase, at from 70 to 80% concentration. Fecal coliform and salmonella bacteria counts fell even though temperatures were below the pasteurization level.