This ppt describes how the animal fart is causing climate change and suggests alternative methods to mitigate climate change due to animal fart. Sustainable development is planned and a detailed methodology, given.

1. SUSTAINABLE FUEL FROM CATTLE
FLATULENCE TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE
– THE HIGH EFFICIENCY ENERGY
ALTERNATIVE.
PADMANABHAN KRISHNAN, M VENKATA KRISHNA SAI,
HAREEN.
SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
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2. CONTENTS
 Background/rationale and specific aims
 Method/approach - The approach is trans-disciplinary in nature
and addresses a significant problem from a trans-disciplinary
approach.
 Includes Plans for dissemination, outreach, and future grant
proposals
 Includes Time lines and plan of action.
 Includes Detailed Budget
 Provides Acknowledgements and References.
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3. BACKGROUND, RATIONALE/SPECIFIC AIMS
 Faunal Flatulence is the prime cause of climate change as
maximum GHG ( Green House Gases ) are emitted out in to the
atmosphere through this process. Only a few living beings are
responsible for the process industries and transportation-
humans !
 A conservative estimate of the average faunal flatulence per day
is 1X 1013 litres which is 10000 billion litres (American measure).
Annually, this would be 5100 million metric tons of flatulence
after considering its density to be ~1.4 kg/m3., --40 % heavier
than air.
 It contains higher portions of Green House Gases (GHG) like
CO2, Methane, Sulphur containing gases, CO and traces of
other hydrocarbons though the presence of oxygen nitrogen and
hydrogen would tend to reduce the density marginally.
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4. BACKGROUND , RATIONALE/ SPECIFIC AIMS
 According to a UN report, some cattle are known to emit oral and anal
flatulence to the extent of 500 litres per day as they `chew the cud’
extensively .
 The methane and hydrocarbon content is high in cattle flatulence .
 Methane is 23 times more potent as a GHG than CO2 and so it must not be
let out in to the atmosphere but harnessed as a fuel with negligible
emissions.
 From a healthy cattle , it is realistic to produce 50- 100 litres of useable
hydrocarbon fuel per day after treatment. After compression in a cylinder
one would get 5 to 10 litres of compressed gas fuel.
 This would mean 25 to 50 hrs of 1 KW generator set operation.. Or driving
to work in your premium compact SUV and getting back home for a week ,
from Vellore fort to VIT and back.
 If you have a cow, you don’t need a petrol bunk or an inverter with battery !
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5. BACKGROUND, RATIONALE / SPECIFIC AIMS
• Generation and use of cattle flatulence and methane fuel
and sequestration of carbon di oxide from flatulence
through sustainable methods is proposed as an alternative
to the existing bio-gas technologies.
• To directly obtain the flatulence fuel gas from the cattle
without having to go through the process of converting the
solid dung to gaseous fuel in a Gobar gas plant- which is
more expensive and less efficient in addition to higher
installation and running costs.
• The cow gives only up to 5 Kgs of dung a day but gives
up to 300 litres of useable fuel from fart gas every day.
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6. METHODOLOGY/ APPROACH
• To extract value added fuels like methane and other hydrocarbons
from waste fart emissions for utility in, pumps, generators,
automobiles and fuel cell powered vehicles is the objective.
Methane is a precursor for methanol as a value added fuel.
• Similar to the cattle dung based fuel gas exercise, India can foray
in to a more direct methane producing venture through back pack
exercises. Dung based bio gas initiatives deplete the humus content
in the soil but a flatulence based exercise doesn’t. Thus it is a more
favorable method.
• Cows that have stopped yielding milk ( barren cows) need not be let
out in to the public but used for producing a farm based methane
fuel. This also reduces the menace of stray cattle as they can be
housed in a methane producing farm. For Rs. 50 spent on a cattle
for food, the cattle yields Rs. 500 worth fart fuel.
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7. THE ARGENTINIAN BACKPACK
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8. METHODOLOGY/ APPROACH
Ref: Yunxia Yang et.al., RSC Advances, 2017, DOI: 10.1039/c6ra25509d.
Gas chromatography and mass spectra are used to separate the fart gases.
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9. METHODOLOGY / APPROACH
STEP 1
• Animal with back pack producing good flatulence.
• Removal of full back pack with flatulence.
STEP 2
• Sequestration of non-inflammable gases like CO2.
• Inflammable portion injected in to cylinder after adjustment of ignition
point.
STEP 3
• Adequate pressurization in a compact cylinder .
• Flow regulation and timing for ignition
STEP 4
.
• Ignition & combustion in an IC engine.
• Catalytic conversion of exhaust gases. Emission Norms !
Figure 2: A flow chart for harnessing cattle flatulence as fuel .
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10. METHODOLOGY/ APPROACH
• Separation of non-inflammable component from inflammable
component through the use of zeolites, metal organic frameworks,
micro, meso and macro porous solids is planned.
• Analysis is to be done by GC-MS, FT-IR for qualitative and quantitative
estimations.
• Auto-ignition of methane is to be avoided. When it is compressed for
storage in a cylinder, we plan to refer flash and fire points and store it
accordingly with additives or nitrogen gas additions that would permit
combustion only in the exact and allowable pressure and temperature
conditions.
• For pressurized methane, we plan to remove air / oxygen completely
so that no conversion/oxidation to CO2 occurs. A planned engine test
will be done, after checking the combustible content of the mixture.
• Emission after combustion needs to be analyzed for the composition of
fart gas. Accordingly , the norms for emission will be followed based
upon a feedback process.
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11. METHODOLOGY/ APPROACH
• The purified flatulence can be used in IC engines for
combustion after sequestering CO2 and other non-inflammables
from the gases that are inflammable.
• This way there could be a considerable reduction in the
flatulence that is let out into the atmosphere by the animal.
• Besides, the potential of flatulence as an energy alternative can
also be realized.
• The sequestered CO2 can be dissociated further or used as a
laboratory consumable in chemical, biochemical and
metallurgical reactions. CO2 is also a good refrigerant,
pneumatic gas in devices and a recovery gas for oil fields
though its use in carbonated beverages and food industry could
be religiously questioned.
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12. A MESSAGE WITH TRANS-DISCIPLINARY JUSTIFICATION
• As this project addresses the issue of mitigation of
climate change due to flatulence by cattle and livestock in
general, that are known to emit a high volume of
methane and carbon dioxide in to the air ( GHGs ),
through an energy alternative process to fossil fuels that
would lead to sustainable development, there by killing
many birds in one stone, it is observed to be highly trans-
disciplinary in nature demanding the collaborative efforts
of experts from chemistry and mechanical engineering
with a deep concern for the environment.
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13. PLAN FOR DISSEMINATION, OUTREACH AND
FUTURE GRANT PROPOSALS
• It is planned to transfer the technology through patents to those with cattle
farms and supervise the setting up of plants to harness the wind power of
cattle. This would be the first of its kind in the country. The technology
outreach programme would address the concerns of environmentalists,
farmers with pumps, motors and tractors needing fuel, milk producers
needing energy at an affordable cost and high end technologists needing
methane fuel for fuel cells. This probably the most trans-disciplinary
initiative that one can think of that breeds sustainable development
• Future proposals to address innovative technology incubation, scaling and
mass industrialization of the processes to be developed and patented, are
planned. Rural up-liftment through empowerment of an easily affordable
technology through cost effective transfer is the expected outcome of this
proposal . Rurally relevant MNRE and automobile companies related major
proposals will achieve the purpose. Innovate in India and make in India
initiative stands to be fulfilled through this trans-disciplinary approach and
method.
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14. TIME LINE AND PLAN OF ACTION
• First three months: Collection of fart samples from
cattle and analysis for improvement through additives.
• Next three months : Separation of hydrocarbon fuels
and chemical analysis for efficiency improvement.
• Next three months: Testing combustion characteristics
and applying in devices and engines.
• Last three months: Validation and fine tuning with
emission norms. Patents and publications.
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15. REFERENCES
• Annual report 2013-14, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and
fisheries, India.
• BBC News, January 27th, 2014, German cows cause methane blasts in Rasdorf.
• Crutzen PJ, Aselmann I and Seiler W, Tellus, 1986, 38B, 271-284.
• http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8468
• http://www.wri.org/chart/world-greenhouse-gas-emissions-2005
• http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i0680e/i0680e.pdf
• Livestock Information, July 2005, Sector Analysis and Policy Branch, AGAL,
FAO, Livestock brief on Bangladesh.
• Padmanabhan. K, 2014, Climate change- Flatulent contributions !,
Environmental Research Jl. , 7(5), p1-3.
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16. REFERENCES …..
• Padmanabhan. K, 2019, ‘ SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FROM ENERGY
ALTERNATIVES TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE DUE TO FAUNAL EMISSIONS-
A REVIEW’ in NEPT Journal, Vol:18, No:2, p679, 2019.
• Qiu Huai, Ju Zhiyong, Chang Zhijie, Feb 2013, A survey of cattle production in
China, , FAO corporate document repository.
• Swamy M and Bhattacharya S, 2006, Budgeting anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emission from Indian livestock using country-specific emission coefficients,
Current Science, 91(10), p1340.
• Wilkinson, D. M., Nisbet, E. G. and Ruxton, G.D., 2012, Current Biology, 22(9),
R292-293.
• www.fao.org
• www.inta.gov.ar
• www.sapgaya.mecon.gov.ar
• www.wikipedia.org.
• Yunxia Yang et. al., Royal Society of Chemistry Advances, 2017, DOI:
10.1039/c6ra25509d.
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17. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
WE THANK THE INVESTIGATORS WITH WHOM WE
HAVE SHARED OUR VIEWS. OUR THANKS ARE DUE
TO PROF. S. GHOSH FOR HAVING COME FORWARD
TO PROVIDE SUGGESTIONS TO MY WORK AND
ENHANCE THE OVERALL APPEAL. WE THANK PROF.
J. SRINIVASAN OF IISC, BANGALORE FOR THE HELP
WITH LITERATURE. WE THANK THE VIT
MANAGEMENT AND HONOURABLE CHANCELLOR
FOR THE SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT.
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18. THANK YOU AND QUESTIONS ?
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