Blowers, fit on the scrapers in a dairy farm, dry the manure while it is slowly being scraped off the platforms.

It will reduce the stink, and allow for fast and easy processing of the dry manure as a power source for energy.

To remove the manure from the pits at the end of the platform, either (1) use those giant plastic bags for garbage accumulation - the weight is considerably reduced. Or (2) mix it with diesel oil and pump it out.

The blowers can be cold air dryers like the ones used in public bathrooms. If so, you would use less energy for heating the air, and at the same time recover much of the water given to the cows.
-- pashute, Nov 13 2012

Microwave pyrolysis http://www.scienced...i/S0165237003000871
[pashute, Nov 13 2012]

supersack http://upload.ecvv....200912291858373.jpg
[pashute, Nov 13 2012]

little concerned about dry manure flying on to milking equipment, but perhaps that is no different from the wet stuff that hangs around at the moment. so [+]

Presumably this will require a circular building to generate the hand drier recycling effect, with some sort of a lip where the dirt can be trapped and extracted.
-- PainOCommonSense, Nov 13 2012


I agree with [Pain] - I think the water helps hold the nasty stuff together during collection. I'd suggest adding more water and washing the stuff away - perhaps some of the water could be reclaimed from a separate drying room, heated by some of the dried out manure.
-- TomP, Nov 13 2012


I agree with [Tom], Warm water could flush the crap under the floor, then Heat generated by the muck through the rotting process could be used to help dry the floor, perhaps even using a Manure biscuit burner as an under floor heater
-- PainOCommonSense, Nov 13 2012


Adding water is what is done today. It must reach 18% of the manure so that it can be pumped out of the pits and into a cyclone that pulls the water out and sends it to the sewage system.

The water added is a giant expense, and a waste of good water. It is the SOURCE of the following problems: bad smell, recycling costs, water pollution.

In a nearby Kibbutz that has 1800 cows the annual expense is $300,000 just for the removal of the manure.

Dry manure is MUCH easier for the scrapers to handle, is immediately useful for regenerating power, and has no smell.

The cold hand dryer device sends out a stream of dry air on one side and sucks it in on the other. So only several hoses on the scrapers would be needed.
-- pashute, Nov 13 2012


[ ] not too familiar with dairy farms, but the idea of dried manure dust blowing can't be good.
-- FlyingToaster, Nov 13 2012


//dried manure dust blowing can't be good.// Well, it's not pleasant, but on the other hand, it's not really much different from a regular dust storm. Smell is not great, but I've smelled much worse in my mother-in-law's kitchen.

//the new cocaine// ... well, I can speak to that one (Kris, if you're reading this, my apologies for telling) - cow dung, when smoked, produces no psychological effects (other than grossing out the user); the particular occasion entailed the smoking being done in an atmosphere consisting of about 30% mosquito, and, while it did allow one to clear enough volume to take a bug-free breath, neither of us could say that it was a clear improvement.
-- lurch, Nov 13 2012


The manure is scraped and dropped into the pits at the end of the platform. This is standard practice. It can be gasified directly there using microwave (see link) or stored in stacked up supersacks inside the pit, and taken to the gasification site by hoisting them out.
-- pashute, Nov 13 2012



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