ABSTRACT
Manure from intensive livestock production facilities is an
important, underutilized resource. However, for many
large concentrated animal facilities, the amount of manure
far exceeds the need for local farmland application, thus,
manure currently costs, rather than adds, value to livestock
producers. Billions of dollars are spent annually on its
transportation, treatment, and land application, and its
impact on the environment has been an increasing concern
of government agencies, scientific communities, the live-
stock industry, and the general public. Regulations that
continue to become more stringent and cost-intensive
have been imposed to satisfy our desire for a clean, safe
environment. Yet economic and environmental sustain-
ability of the livestock industry is critical to the continued
prosperity of agriculture and rural communities. It is, there-
fore, vitally important to develop innovative solutions to
treat livestock manure. Meanwhile, the human society has
a growing need for bio-fuels that reduce its dependency,
the world’s finite supply of crude petroleum.
