Danish technology aims to eradicate methane emissions from livestock barn air
A field demonstration of the 'Methane Eradication Photochemical System (MEPS)' represents the "first real-world validation of a scalable technology capable of eradicating methane emissions from livestock barn air".
This is according to Ambient Carbon, a Danish company that is developing and commercialising technologies that reduce or eradicate greenhouse gases.
Methane has 84 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide when measured over a 20-year period.
Livestock emit approximately 30% of worldwide anthropogenic methane, with dairy cattle generating half of those emissions, the company said.
The large-scale field trial was conducted at the Hofmansgave Foundation farm in Denmark, where the MEPS unit, housed in a standard 40-foot shipping container, processed air samples from a 250-cow open-sided dairy barn.
According to Matthew S. Johnson, co-founder and chief science officer at Ambient Carbon: 'The system successfully oxidised methane from dairy barn ventilation air across varying concentration levels, proving that MEPS can deliver consistent performance under real agricultural conditions with co-pollutants present.
"Across the initial tests, up to 90% of inlet air methane was eradicated over a methane concentration range of 4.3 parts per million (ppm) to 44 ppm.'
Danone North America supported this large-scale field trial.
Jessie Copeland, head of regenerative agriculture at Danone North America, said that there is a "great need for regenerative agriculture technologies like MEPS to strengthen the future of farming".
In addition to destroying methane, MEPS aims to remove ammonia and other odours from the dairy barn, while also generating fertiliser as a by-product that can be utilised to decrease the farm's operating costs, according to Ambient Carbon.
The MEPS system uses a novel patented gas-phaseal process to break down methane using chlorine radicals activated by UV LED arrays.
As it is non-invasive, MEPS does not affect cows, cow comfort, milk production, or barn operations, and the technology's modular design allows for deployment at various sized dairy barns, the company said.
While the current field trial focused on enteric methane from dairy barns, the researchers said that the MEPS system could be applied to other sources of dilute methane emissions, including covered manure storage facilities, biogas plants, and wastewater treatment plants.
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Agriland
12-08-2025
- Agriland
Danish technology aims to eradicate methane emissions from livestock barn air
Researchers are hopeful that dilute methane emissions from dairy barns can be effectively eliminated at commercial scale using technology. A field demonstration of the 'Methane Eradication Photochemical System (MEPS)' represents the "first real-world validation of a scalable technology capable of eradicating methane emissions from livestock barn air". This is according to Ambient Carbon, a Danish company that is developing and commercialising technologies that reduce or eradicate greenhouse gases. Methane has 84 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide when measured over a 20-year period. Livestock emit approximately 30% of worldwide anthropogenic methane, with dairy cattle generating half of those emissions, the company said. The large-scale field trial was conducted at the Hofmansgave Foundation farm in Denmark, where the MEPS unit, housed in a standard 40-foot shipping container, processed air samples from a 250-cow open-sided dairy barn. According to Matthew S. Johnson, co-founder and chief science officer at Ambient Carbon: 'The system successfully oxidised methane from dairy barn ventilation air across varying concentration levels, proving that MEPS can deliver consistent performance under real agricultural conditions with co-pollutants present. "Across the initial tests, up to 90% of inlet air methane was eradicated over a methane concentration range of 4.3 parts per million (ppm) to 44 ppm.' Danone North America supported this large-scale field trial. Jessie Copeland, head of regenerative agriculture at Danone North America, said that there is a "great need for regenerative agriculture technologies like MEPS to strengthen the future of farming". In addition to destroying methane, MEPS aims to remove ammonia and other odours from the dairy barn, while also generating fertiliser as a by-product that can be utilised to decrease the farm's operating costs, according to Ambient Carbon. The MEPS system uses a novel patented gas-phaseal process to break down methane using chlorine radicals activated by UV LED arrays. As it is non-invasive, MEPS does not affect cows, cow comfort, milk production, or barn operations, and the technology's modular design allows for deployment at various sized dairy barns, the company said. While the current field trial focused on enteric methane from dairy barns, the researchers said that the MEPS system could be applied to other sources of dilute methane emissions, including covered manure storage facilities, biogas plants, and wastewater treatment plants.
The Irish Sun
26-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
I was hired by NASA to protect Earth from aliens – here's what happens when they find us… & why it may spark disaster
AN EX-NASA chief has sensationally revealed plans for intelligent alien visitors. John Rummel was twice NASA's Planetary Protection Officer - from 1987 to 1993 and 1997 to 2006. 5 Dr John Rummel served as NASA's Planetary Protection Officer Credit: NASA 5 5 His objective was to prevent the contamination of other planets during exploratory missions, and also to ensure alien samples didn't contaminate Earth. But he also contemplated what he would do if intelligent aliens were to visit. And Rummel, now retired, has even outlined what could happen if there was a full-scale alien invasion. Rummel told The Sun: 'An alien visitor would provide mutual benefit. More tech news 'We could imagine standard microbial sampling, such as swabs and wipes for our part. 'Conceptually, it could be like the Danish film , The Visit, where we have somebody who is coming here but not invading, and they're interested in finding out more. 'I would insist we sample the visitor to make sure we have no microbial hitchhikers and also that we do not introduce anything to hurt the visitor. 'As for alien invasions, you could end up with the Martians being killed off by the first pathogenic bacteria, and the other way around. Most read in Science 'If we go to Mars, we become the Martians. We have to be careful that when we do get there we don't bring back unknowns that might otherwise be a problem. 'A lot of people go, oh well, we haven't found life on Mars so far, so it shouldn't be a problem. 'There are a lot of people with big enough egos to say 'trust me'. 'But that's not really a good idea. Ignorance is not bliss. Let's go ahead and take some data.' He added: 'We are just getting started in looking for signs of life. I will vote for aliens finding us first. 'We are otherwise in the 'selfie' stage of understanding what to look for, and where.' 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'But I wouldn't trust my opinion on this because I don't have data. 'I believe that there's life out there but it wouldn't consider itself alien. Because they're out there and we're the aliens if we go out there. 'They're not the aliens themselves. I hope intelligent alien life is out there, and I certainly think it could be. We have a chance of seeing them in our lifetime. 'It changes all the time, but the search for extra terrestrial intelligence or technology has the potential to reveal if there's something else going on in the galaxy that's not us. 'At one point in time, I was the SETI program person at NASA headquarters. "And some very smart people are dedicated to seeing what's out there.' 5 NASA says on its website it hopes to send humans to Mars as early as the 2030s to explore signs of alien life. It was planning to return Mars samples before then as part of its Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. 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Irish Independent
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