New Fuel Source Update!!!: How Farmers In America Are Turning Milk Into Fuels For Cars

Using milk as fuel for cars? How are these farmers in the United States of America doing it, and what can Nigerians learn from it?

Meat is made from plants; energy can be pulled from thin air. The latest in the series of innovations is the pulling of fuel from cow milk. This is what some farmers in the United States are currently doing. It’s not happening in the future; it’s taking place right before our eyes. 

This results from a partnership between farmers in Michigan and a Canadian distillery that is happening currently.

What Parts of Milk Are They Turning into Fuel?

There’s an alcoholic substance in the market named, Vodkow. It is a milk-based vodka made by Dairy Distillery of Ontario, Canada. Now, this same company that made Vodka out of milk has partnered with the farmers in Michigan, the Michigan Milk Producers Association, comprising over 1,000 dairy farmers. The company is investing over $40 million into this low carbon-intensity biofuels plan.

Processing milk leads to a byproduct called “milk permeate.” It filters out lactose, vitamins, and minerals in milk, protein, and fat. This helps maintain taste consistency and to keep it within the nutrition numbers on milk container information panels.

What Else is Milk Permeate Used for?

This byproduct is in many products like chocolate, bakery and confectionery, ice cream, and pig feed. It is also in Vodkow, and the company’s hand sanitiser was manufactured during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Speaking to a television station, WOOD, Dairy Distillery founder Omid McDonald stated: “There’s only so much vodka people can drink, and there’s so much of this stuff out there. We said, ‘Well, what other high-volume uses are out there?’ And that’s when we started looking at biofuel.”

How Much Fuel Will Milk Make?

According to Crain’s Detroit Business, a 30,000 square feet facility will soon house the processing equipment. With the amount of milk permeate available, interestingly, it will make 2.2 million gallons of ethanol yearly by 2025. This comes out to offset 14,500 metric tons of carbon puked into the environment a year when mixed with gasoline. 

The byproduct from the permeate processing facility will flow through pipes into a centralized ethanol plant. There, it will ferment, similar to how Dairy Distillery already manufactures its vodka products. Except, instead of VodKow, it will be ethanol. Then it needs one last step to remove any water that remains in the fuel.  

Will Biofuels Be Healthy for the Planet?

This new method for generating fuel adds to a long list of biofuels in production now. A short list includes ethanol, which is already made from corn in the U.S. and sugarcane in Brazil; biodiesel from vegetable oils and animal fats; green diesel, made from algae and plants; and biogas, which is derived from methane. 

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However, climate control experts are yet to verify if the conversion of milk to car fuel is healthy for the environment. 

Conclusion

Interestingly, more ways for generating fuel aside from crude are growing. To curb the issue of fuel scarcity and the ridiculous increase in fuel prices in the country, the Nigerian government should probably consider partnering with companies that’ll help them process milk into fuel. After all, Nigeria has a booming cattle market.