Environmental impact of the biogas production from dairy cows

Abstract

Nowadays, biogas is widely used as a renewable energy source due to the increasing price of fossil fuels and is commonly produced from the agriculture industry. However, it mainly consists of carbon dioxide and methane, which both have impact on climate change and global warming. The objective of this study is to explore the environmental impact of biogas production from the manure of dairy cows. Normally, the potential of biogas production depends on the manure characteristics of the cows. As a result, the manure characteristics of the cows are therefore dependent on their diet. Theoretically, the dietary influences on the component ratio of the biogas. In this study, three different cow diets are used. Three samples of biogas are examined for each diet for more accuracy. The results show that the different diets of the cows have an effect on the biogas production, CO2 and CH4 contents, and the total greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the total greenhouse gas emissions of the biogas used are reduced as compared to the equivalent use of natural gas by 43.6%, 43.8%, and 44.2% for the diet types of T1, T2, and T3, respectively.