Converting zoo animal manure into a bio-ressource?

Agalychnis

Agalychnis

Active Member
Would it be possible to convert the manure of zoo animals into a biological ressource?

It could for instance be converted to biogas and sold - or used as fuel for rides in the zoo.

It could also be composted and sold as fertilizer.

Or it could go through pyrolysis and be sold/used as biochar (very good and entirely clean plant nutrition) as well as fuel gasses.

What do you think? Or do you have an idea how animal manure could be manufactured to make it a ressource rather than high-expense trash?

I'm looking forward to hear your responses! :)
 
Toronto Zoo has a Biogas project underway. Fund-raising started in 2011 and I heard last year they had raised enough to start building.

Toronto Zoo | Toronto Zoo | Zoo Poo to Biogas Energy

"Zoo Poo to Biogas Energy; great pootential
We are going to be making good use of our animal waste; by using it to fuel a 500kW biogas facility. The facility, to be built on three hectares of land east of Meadowvale Road, will combine Zoo waste and food waste from a major grocery retailer to be converted into electricity, heat and fertilizer.

The 500kW facility will produce a third of the Zoo's electricity demand and will reduce our CO2 emissions by 10,000 tonnes. Using renewable energy sources, such as biogas helps in the fight against climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

The plant will be operated by ZooShare Biogas Co-operative Inc. a non-profit, non-share capital renewable energy co-operative. The project represents an investment of $ 5.4 million, the majority of which will be raised from the community through the sale of Community Bonds. The project will be the first co-operatively owned biogas plant in Canada and the first zoo-based biogas plant of its kind in North America.

More information about ZooShare, the biogas project at the Toronto Zoo and its progress are available at www.zooshare.ca."
 
Many zoos have composted and sold waste as fertilizer. Many have found it to be uneconomic. Some are restricted by health regulations. There is increasing concern about anti-biotics and other medicines passed on through the compost and posing unknown risks to people and watersheds.

http://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/Zoo/Composting-ZooPoo.aspx
http://www.zoo.org/conservation/zoodoo
http://www.coblands.co.uk/info/zoo-poo
http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/news/re-usable-‘zoo-poo’
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/10/world/europe/elephant-dung-biogas-munich/
 
I think there are restrictions on using carnivore poop and due to their poor digestive performance ellie and rhino poop isn't very good as a fuel stock.
 
Any poop can be converted. Chicken, zebra, pig, girl, boy it doesn't matter. Carnivore poop smells a bit more if you have a poor conversion to biogas. Here in NJ is a pig farm that had big problems with the smell. What I heard, they added some frequency pretreatment. Since then no smell. I guess it is something like this http://bit.ly/1M0Ry8M
 
A well known circus used to advertise "FREE MANURE, TONS AVAILABLE DAILY FROM OUR EXTENSIVE ZOO AND STABLES". they had 8 elephants, 20 plus horses, lions and tigers. Gardeners and allotment keepers used to turn up and take it away by the truck load, it also did the circus a favour as it saved a bit on skips.
 
Zoo Wroclaw is now trying to do biogas production from their organic waste. They estimate that costs are cut by 10-20% (probably heating costs only).
 
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