Whether they’re oil or biofuels, our sources of power often come from the ground. In this experiment, you’ll test out more goodies from the ground. Is horse manure a good energy source? If so, how does burning horse manure compare to burning wood from coniferous and deciduous trees?
To find out, we’re going to use calorimetry. Sound complicated? Calorimetry is really just one way of figuring out how much energy is in an object. You may recognize calorie as the word that refers to the unit we use to measure energy in food (the kilocalorie)—but calories can indicate how much energy is present in all kinds of things! We’ll find out how many calories an object has with a calorimeter, which can help us measure heat emitted from an object when its ignited.
How can you figure out how much energy each piece of manure or wood gave out? There’s an equation that can help. Remember, for each experiment, you used 100 grams of water.
In this experiment, you can use the change in temperature to tell you how much energy a piece of fuel contained. Every type of matter changes temperature in a different way. In this experiment, you used 100 grams of water. The specific heat of water is 4.18 J/(g·°C).
For this experiment, if the water temperature changed from 22 degrees C to 25 degrees C, you’d write the equation like this:
When it comes to using manure as fuel, here’s the scoop: it doesn’t stink, at least not as a fuel. In fact, people around the world use manure as a source of fuel. If you’re burning horse manure, it often lasts longer than fuel from coniferous trees, especially when it’s compacted and made into bricks
The manure needs to be dry, because manure that’s fresh from the horse has a lot of water in it and won’t burn. Manure can take a little longer than wood to catch on fire in any case, so it’s important to use manure that is as dry as possible.
While using manure as a way to warm yourself or your home might sound gross, manure has a lot going for it. It takes a long time to grow a tree, but grass can grow in a matter of days. Get a field and a horse, and you can turn grass into fuel quite quickly—as long as you don’t mind a little bit of mess!
Manure is a good fuel source because it’s essentially grass that’s passed through an animal’s digestive tract. Horses digest grass through fermentation inside their stomach. This process helps break down the cellulose in grass, turning it into a usable (albeit crude) biomass fuel.
Can You Burn Horse Manure? A Practical Guide
As a horse owner, you’re probably all too familiar with the large amounts of manure produced by these animals daily While composting is a popular disposal method, some may wonder – can you burn horse manure as an alternate solution?
The short answer is yes, it’s possible to burn horse manure under the right conditions. However, there are important factors to consider before putting manure in your burn pile. Let’s take an in-depth look at the pros and cons of using horse manure as a fuel source.
Why Burn Horse Manure?
For farms generating tons of manure, burning can seem like an easy disposal method. Some potential benefits include:
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Reducing large piles quickly. Manure takes up a lot of space when stockpiled. Burning eliminates bulk fast.
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Avoiding labor for composting/spreading. Burning removes the work needed for these processes.
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Utilizing manure as a heat source. When thoroughly dry, manure can produce energy when burned.
However, significant drawbacks may outweigh these marginal advantages. Burning should not be the first choice for waste management.
Challenges of Burning Manure
Research shows fresh manure is unsuitable for burning. Key reasons include:
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High moisture content. Fresh manure can be up to 80% water, slowing combustion.
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Low heat value. The high moisture results in very low caloric content for useful heat.
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Nitrogen oxide emissions. Burning manure releases harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxide.
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Slow burning. Damp manure smolders instead of burning properly, taking a long time to fully combust.
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Offensive odors. Smoldering and incomplete burning creates strong ammonia and other foul odors.
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Excess ash. More residue remains after burning than with wood fuels.
Best Practices for Burning Manure
Given the drawbacks, burning manure requires careful preparation for worthwhile results:
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Allow manure to dry thoroughly first. Manure straight from the stable won’t burn efficiently.
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Blend manure with wood shavings/sawdust for better burning. This improves airflow and adds carbon.
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Mix in coal or wood chips to support combustion. The extra biomass makes manure burn hotter and faster.
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Create small, loose piles for better air circulation while drying. Dense piles resist drying.
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Monitor moisture levels and only burn completely dried portions. Use a moisture meter if needed.
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Avoid burning in wet/humid weather which re-wets manure.
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Site burn piles strategically to direct smoke away from neighbors.
Even with excellent drying techniques, manure still poses risks like pollution and lingering odors. As such, burning should not be the primary manure management system.
Is Burning Manure Legal?
Before burning large quantities of manure, check local and state ordinances. Many areas prohibit or restrict burning manure and agricultural wastes.
Potential legal concerns include:
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Air quality violations from smoke, ash, and odors.
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Health hazards from nitrogen oxide emissions or uncontrolled fires.
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Nuisance regulations against offensive smells or smoke.
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Waste codes preferring composting over incineration.
Fines for illegal burning can be substantial. In some cases, the relevant environmental or agricultural department may provide permits for limited manure burning, but the red tape is extensive.
Alternatives to Burning Manure
When burning horse manure is impractical or prohibited, focus on these eco-friendly solutions instead:
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Compost in designated bins to create a valuable soil amendment.
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Spread manure to fertilize fields, being careful not to over-apply.
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Offer manure to gardeners for offsite composting.
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Connect with farmers who may take manure for crops.
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Sell manure to nurseries, landscapers, and compost companies.
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Investigate manure power generation systems to convert waste to electricity.
The challenges often outweigh the benefits when contemplating burning horse manure. While possible under the right dry conditions, it generally offers minimal usefulness. Instead, reuse and recycling methods make better use of manure’s potential as a resource. With some initiative and planning, you can manage manure sustainably, legally, and economically smart for your horse farm.
Key Takeaways:
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Horse manure can be burned once thoroughly dried, but comes with drawbacks like pollution.
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Allowing manure to dry, blending with sawdust, and monitoring moisture helps combustion.
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Local laws may prohibit or restrict burning manure and agricultural waste.
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Better options exist for eco-friendly manure management, like composting.
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With the right system, horse manure can be a useful farm resource instead of a waste product.
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Whether they’re oil or biofuels, our sources of power often come from the ground. In this experiment, you’ll test out more goodies from the ground. Is horse manure a good energy source? If so, how does burning horse manure compare to burning wood from coniferous and deciduous trees?
To find out, we’re going to use calorimetry. Sound complicated? Calorimetry is really just one way of figuring out how much energy is in an object. You may recognize calorie as the word that refers to the unit we use to measure energy in food (the kilocalorie)—but calories can indicate how much energy is present in all kinds of things! We’ll find out how many calories an object has with a calorimeter, which can help us measure heat emitted from an object when its ignited.
Is horse manure a possible energy source?
- Dry horse manure
- Wood from a coniferous (evergreen) tree
- Wood from a deciduous tree (birch, beech, maple, cherry, or alder)
- Kitchen scale that measures in grams
- Safety goggles
- Matches
- Thermometer
- Can opener
- Distilled water
- Graduated cylinder
- Large tin can
- Small tin can
- 1’ of dowel
- Cork
- Metal wire
- Hammer
- Nail
- Put your safety goggles on.
- Get your large can and use a can opener to remove the top and the bottom of the can.
- Place the nail on the side of the bottom of the coffee can, and use the hammer to punch some holes around the edge of the base. This will allow air to move into the calorimeter when your samples burn.
- Use the hammer and nails to make a hole in each of two opposite sides of the top of the smaller can. These holes should be large enough to allow the dowel to pass through. Put the dowel through and make sure that the small can rests easily inside the larger one with the dowel suspended on the edges of the larger can. Make sure theres lots of space below the smaller can.
- Weigh three samples of each type of wood and three samples dried manure. Record their weights, and set the samples aside.
- Stick a small piece of thick metal wire into the narrower end of the cork. Stand the cork upright with the wire pointing upwards. Make sure that your wire is thick enough to poke into the pieces of wood.
- Weigh your small can. Add distilled water and weigh it again until the weight is 100 grams higher. You will have added 100 grams of distilled water.
- Measure the water’s starting temperature. Record the temperature in a table like this:
|
Fuel |
Weight Before |
Weight After |
Temperature Before |
Temperature After |
|
Manure |
- Put everything on a non-flammable surface in a well-ventilated area. Put on your safety goggles. Place the first piece of manure onto the wire on the end of the cork. Light it on fire. Gently move the calorimeter onto the top of the cork and manure so that the manure is under the small container. Watch from the top to make sure that the flame does not go out.
- After the manure stops burning, take the water’s temperature again and record it in your table. Weigh the burnt manure on the scale and record this in your table as well. Let the calorimeter cool, and replace the water.
- Do the experiment again with another piece of manure. Do the same thing with each of the pieces of wood. Make sure that you use the same amount of water each time.
How can you figure out how much energy each piece of manure or wood gave out? There’s an equation that can help. Remember, for each experiment, you used 100 grams of water.
Heat flow = specific heat x mass x change in the temperature OR
q = (specific heat) x m x Δt
In this experiment, you can use the change in temperature to tell you how much energy a piece of fuel contained. Every type of matter changes temperature in a different way. In this experiment, you used 100 grams of water. The specific heat of water is 4.18 J/(g·°C).
For this experiment, if the water temperature changed from 22 degrees C to 25 degrees C, you’d write the equation like this:
Q = 4.18 J/(g·°C) x 100 g x (25-22 C)
- Enter your real values, and then solve the equation for J (joules). This will give you the amount of energy released by each material you burned.
- Now, compare that energy to the weight of each material. Your 100 gram piece of fuel will likely give out more energy than your 50 gram piece of fuel. For each material, calculate the amount of energy given out for every 10 grams of weight.
- Which material burned the longest? Which one gave off the most heat per unit weight? Is horse manure a good source of fuel?
The horse manure burns longer and hotter than the wood from coniferous trees.
When it comes to using manure as fuel, here’s the scoop: it doesn’t stink, at least not as a fuel. In fact, people around the world use manure as a source of fuel. If you’re burning horse manure, it often lasts longer than fuel from coniferous trees, especially when it’s compacted and made into bricks
The manure needs to be dry, because manure that’s fresh from the horse has a lot of water in it and won’t burn. Manure can take a little longer than wood to catch on fire in any case, so it’s important to use manure that is as dry as possible.
While using manure as a way to warm yourself or your home might sound gross, manure has a lot going for it. It takes a long time to grow a tree, but grass can grow in a matter of days. Get a field and a horse, and you can turn grass into fuel quite quickly—as long as you don’t mind a little bit of mess!
Manure is a good fuel source because it’s essentially grass that’s passed through an animal’s digestive tract. Horses digest grass through fermentation inside their stomach. This process helps break down the cellulose in grass, turning it into a usable (albeit crude) biomass fuel.
Results: COMPRESSED HORSE POO FUEL EXPERIMENT – Tested in Hwam Wood Burning Stove at Natural Heating
FAQ
What is the best way to get rid of horse manure?
The most effective and environmentally friendly way to get rid of horse manure is through composting. Composting reduces the volume of waste, transforms it into a useful soil amendment, and can be used on-site or sold.
Is burning manure toxic?
THE PRIMARY HAZARDS OF THESE GASES ARE:
Toxic or poisonous reactions in people or animals, oxygen depletion which can result in asphyxiation and explosions that can occur when oxygen mixes with the gases such as methane.
Does burning horse manure smell?
“When the wind is blowing in the right direction, I can lay in bed at night and smell the smell of burning horse manure,” Southern said. Barbara Ballard lives just a few miles down the road from the manure pile.
Can you burn dried horse manure?
While low cost, it does require a bit of labor and maintenance. You can’t burn fresh manure (it contains too much moisture), but you can burn it once it is dried. Horse manure can be dried in ‘bricks’ and then burned for heat. Researchers in Italy actually did a study on burning horse poop.
Can manure be burned?
Given the drawbacks, burning manure requires careful preparation and conditions to be worthwhile as an alternate disposal solution: Allow manure to dry thoroughly first. Manure straight from the stable will not burn efficiently. Blend manure with wood shavings or sawdust for better burning.
Can you put horse manure in a pile?
You must not put temporary piles of horse manure where there is risk of it draining: Solid waste includes things like: You must use a licensed facility to get rid of solid waste – it’s against the law to dump or burn it.
Can horse manure be used as fuel?
Horse manure can be used as fuel by drying it in ‘bricks’ and burning it for heat. Researchers in Italy have studied this method, but it’s important to note that the manure must be dried first, as natural drying can take too long and degrade its heating value.
Can horse manure catch fire?
While a pile of horse waste catching fire is highly unlikely, dry horse manure and sawdust is highly combustible. To properly compost horse manure, the pile should be approximately 130 degrees F to 150 degrees F; over 180 degrees F is not helpful for composting.
Is horse manure a waste?
When you dispose of horse manure, it’s waste unless all of the following apply: You must not spread horse manure as soil fertiliser near water. It can be a health hazard and could harm the environment. You’ll need to follow rules for both: You must not put temporary piles of horse manure where there is risk of it draining: