A big problem: Animal manure from farming

People love to eat meat, eggs, and dairy. Cows, pigs, and chickens will be a part of the human diet until replacements are found and implemented worldwide. These animals produce immense quantities of manure.

Manure slowly decomposes and gives off two important greenhouse gases: methane and carbon dioxide. 

Hog manure lagoon. The top layer can be sparingly applied to crops. Over a few decades, these lagoons accumulate an incredibly toxic "sludge" that cannot be put onto fields and is an environmental toxin.

Tall cones of chicken waste from a barn. These quantities of manure combined with litter are produced annually per barn on a chicken farm.

Cow manure being scraped from bottom of barn floor. Cow manure is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Manures are frequently applied to crops as fertilizer. Unfortunately, crops use and absorb only a small fraction of the nitrogen and phosphorous in these manures ( on average 30%) and the remaining nitrogen and phosphorous runs off into adjacent waterways and ecosystems. 

Application of manure to forage crops

Toxic cyanobacterial bloom in Lake Okeechobee, Florida driven by agricultural run-off

A solution: Use animal manure for microalgal growth

At Demeter, we have developed microalgal growth techniques that use nitrogen and phosphorous in animal wastes from industrial farming operations. These wastes are currently environmental hazards. Our microalgae can remove the nitrogen and phosphorous from these wastes and convert them into useful sugars and fats.

Beginning culture with waste and small quantity of Demeter's microalgae.

Three days of microalgal growth in waste.