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alternative fuel

America’s Newest Alternative Fuel: ‘Miracle Manure’

By Darla Sitton
CBN News

CBN News --(CBN News) – Sky-high gas prices have forced Americans to develop unique ways to fuel their cars.

And now, some innovative college students have found a way to convert cow power into horse power.

Making fuel from corn to power cars sounded a little wacky when it was first introduced, but now one unusual-looking car is fueled from an equally unusual source. That's right - a cow.

At an alternative fuel car show, students from Western Washington University showed off their novel invention to a younger group of school kids.

They explained that "Biomethane is made from cow manure...[but]...it doesn't smell bad, though."

So how do researchers convert the manure into biomethane? It all starts at a dairy in Lyndon, Washington.

Eric Leonhardt, director of the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, explained, “We are talking about dairy cows. So they are very well-trained. They go in one spot, and then that material is pumped into a holding tank."

The manure stews in an underground tank for about three weeks. Then workers siphon off the floating methane, make a few adjustments -- and voila. You have fuel that is ready to pump into a car that has been modified to use natural gas.

It takes 15 to 20 cows a day to produce enough waste to power a car for about 300 miles, and scientists say it costs a lot less than regular gasoline...

"The gas is currently being sold at 1/5th the pump price,." Leonhardt said.

And while there are not enough bovines to take care of America's entire fuel needs, it may one day supply part.


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