In Eastern North Carolina, pig manure is serious business. Hogs outnumber people 3-to-1, and long-standing controversies about the environmental impact continue.

Now, a UNC-Chapel Hill associate professor has come up with a way to eliminate the noxious odor and recycle the waste into fuel alcohol and gases that can be used to make electricity.

The technology still is not cost-effective, but as the U.S. focuses on alternative sources of energy and utilities face requirements to tap renewable resources, the manure produced by 9 million pigs annually is looking, well, more attractive.

Source: The Raleigh News & Observer

Interesting!