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Fuel to feed: U of A students create animal feed from coal [CityNewsEdmonton] (edmonton.citynews.ca)

submitted 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) by RedDog@lemmy.ca to c/alberta@lemmy.ca

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"University of Alberta is researching how to utilize coal to feed livestock. However, the animals wouldn’t technically be eating coal, instead the research team collects methanol from the coal being burned and then mixes it and dries it with bacteria protein.

“We can produce a higher quality product without having to make those trade-offs, while helping the environment,” said Mark Lawley, researcher at Cvictus Fermentation Group.

Lawley says it’s perfect for a carbon capture site, seeing it as a greener alternative."

University story about it here: https://www.ualberta.ca/en/folio/2025/03/alberta-researchers-aim-to-revolutionize-animal-feed.html

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[–] Hastur@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

How the hell is burning coal perfect for carbon capture? Does not compute

[–] Nils@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Yeah, also, this citynews article is terrible. The university post explains it better.

Most of the technology used is old, they are trying to get it approved for use in cattle here in Canada. The benefits they expect are:

there is no mining to get the hydrogen from deep coal
methanol is now cheaper than in the 1970's (when most of the research on this process was done - SCP is 100 years old I think), making the protein cheaper
because of the price, it would be a better alternative to fish based or soy based feed. Less overfishing, and deforestation.

My concerns:

the carbon is already well captured underground, they are just bringing it up without blowing up holes.
what they will do to keep methanol cheap? There are other ways to get methanol, and one of them is deforestation.
they also mention using the oil to get those hydrogens.
"The leftover carbon is then captured and sequestered back underground.” I am not sure how they will keep that protein cheap if they account for the prices of that. Maybe it is cheaper than conventional ways since they are doing in well contained areas, and not busting smoke out of a car exhaust.