Environmentally compatible integrated food and energy production system

Abstract

The present invention relates to the collection of food and energy production units with attendant processing units into an integrated system capable of substantially boosting the efficiency and economics of food and energy production while greatly reducing the impact on the environment. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the system and process further includes sufficient land area for crop production and uptake of nutrients and water.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 811,150, filed on Jun. 5, 2006, which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto. U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 600,936, filed on Jun. 20, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,495 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 709,171 filed on Nov. 10, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,274, and U.S. Application No. [not yet known]entitled Low Oxygen Biologically Mediated Nutrient Removal filed on Nov. 3, 2006, are each expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto.[0002]The present invention relates to a novel process for the environmentally compatible production of food, particularly milk and meat, and energy, particularly ethanol, in a functionally integrated system which realizes significant economic advantages through the efficient use and reuse of resources, products, byproducts, waste products and energy which are ofte...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022]The invention is made possible by utilizing treatment technologies (such as the Bion Technology) which allow large CAFOs to be sited on a small footprint without creating environmental problems. This in turn allows CAFO production units and associated organic waste treatment processes to be synergistically combined with other food and energy production units (facilities such as cheese or milk processing plants and ethanol plants) to form an interrelated and integrated system.

[0062]As a result, a facility or system utilizing the process of the invention creates a far more energy efficient, and substantially more profitable, business enterprise while meeting rigorous environmental standards. None of these integration advantages are realizable without the animal numbers (concentrations) with strict pollution control which are possible because of the Bion Technology or other equivalent environmental control technologies.

Problems solved by technology

While straining environmental management goals, these facilities contribute to the readily available, high quality, low priced food products enjoyed by US citizens.

CAFOs typically generate significant quantities of solid wastes (manures), wastewaters, and atmospheric emissions and these materials are increasingly creating an environmental barrier for continued expansion of the CAFO industry.

Irrespective of the conventional treatment alternatives selected, CAFOs and their associated treatment systems thus require significant amounts of land to operate.

Agricultural runoff is the primary water pollution problem in the United States.

Over-application of animal waste to cropland has resulted in manure nutrients polluting surface and ground water systems, adversely impacting water quality throughout the country.

Wet distillers grains and solubles are denser and more costly to transport than dry distillers grains and dried solubles due to water content.

Also, the wet distillers grains rapidly spoil during storage or transport.

The consequence is that there is a significant cost associated with the disposal or reuse of the distillers grains.

Locating a sufficiently large CAFO next to an ethanol plant would eliminate several disadvantages and inefficiencies associated with ethanol production, but this concept has not been successfully implemented because of environmental and land constraints which prevent such very large CAFOs from being built in the proper locations.

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