Scientists produce natural gas from cow burps

Our problems with cow burps — specifically the methane they expel with each bletch — may be a thing of the past thanks to a group of scientists from Argentina.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas — at least 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. The only reason carbon dioxide gets the most attention now is because we emit far more of it. However, that may not last. As the world's population increases, and we raise more cattle to feed everyone, the methane that those cows produce from their digestive system is going to become a bigger and bigger issue. If we could somehow remove that methane as it's produced, that would be a definite improvement, but a team of scientists with Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) has gone a step further.

What started out several years ago as simply a way to see how much methane cows produce as they go about their daily lives, has developed into a technique to actually extract that methane and turn it into fuel. The gases in the cow's stomachs — collectively called 'burps' — are pumped out into plastic collection tanks strapped to the cow's back. Then, the burps are put through a process that separates out the methane from the other gases. According to the researchers, each cow produces between 250-300 litres of methane gas every day.

"Once you get it compressed, it's the same as having natural gas," Guillermo Berra, the head of INTA's animal physiology group, told Reuters. "As an energy source it is not very practical at the moment, but if you look ahead to 2050, when fossil fuel reserves are going to be in trouble, it is an alternative."

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This is a really innovative idea and it shows a lot of promise for limiting the amount of methane that gets emitted into the atmosphere. However, there are already ways to reduce the amount of methane cows produce, with a simple change in diet. Also, if this is what we're going to be resorting to in the years to come — drawing methane gases out of cows' stomachs just to keep getting our 'fix' of burning fossil fuels — maybe this is the glimpse into the future that should be our wake-up call. It really is a sign that we need to move on to cleaner sources of energy.

(Photo courtesy: Reuters)

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