State Renews Funding for Waste Recycling

State Renews Funding for Waste Recycling

Conly Hansen is on a mission. His goal is to convert agricultural wastes into something useful. In this case — electricity. Efficient waste management is something the mechanical and agricultural engineer has thought about for much of his professional life.

In spite of budget woes, the state of Utah renewed funding for the three-year-old Center for Profitable Uses of Agricultural Byproducts, started by a team of USU engineers and scientists and directed by Hansen.

One of the primary technologies developed at the center is the production of electricity from manure.

"The manure from 1,000 dairy cows or 6,000 pigs can produce enough electricity to power more than 100 homes," said Hansen. At the same time, he said, we can reduce odor and control water pollution.

Recent laws and government incentives for large livestock facilities have made the center's anaerobic technology and utilization of biogas commercially attractive.

The center is also looking at using waste generated in cheese processing to create biopharmaceuticals and studying whether an enzyme that breaks down cellulose could also be used for energy production