Novel plasma-based technology for reduced greenhouse gas emissions in cattle barns (CANMILK)

The challenge of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is that they are highly diluted and originate from over 10 million European farms. Thus, local emissions are small but the combined contribution at European level is ca. 10% of total GHG emissions. A significant portion of these is methane (ca 43%), and most of that is produced by enteric fermentation, i.e. by belching cattle.

The ambitious goal of CANMILK is to develop novel technologies for methane conversion to less harmful carbon dioxide, thus reducing the global warming potential of the enteric emissions. The project will develop a technology based on non-thermal plasma that is simple to use and low maintenance, with overall cost below 80€/t CO2. The work focuses on methane activation by plasma derived oxygen or hydrogen species enabling methane decomposition with the help of catalysts at mild conditions.

CANMILK expects to achieve:

• a simple and efficient equipment for methane abatement in cattle barns,
• a good view of the socio-economic and environmental feasibility of plasma-based methane abatement and
• increased public, scientific and industrial awareness of solutions for GHG abatement in agriculture

As project partner Steinbeis Europa Zentrum supports :

• Development and implementation of the communication and dissemination strategy
• Definition of the exploitation strategy for the project and support on the management of intellectual property

Further information

• Project name (acronym): Carbon Neutral Milk (CANMILK)
• Funding: Horizon Europe (Grant Agreement Number: 101069491)
• Funding budget for all partners: 2.2 Million EUR
• Countries involved: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom
• Duration: 09/2022 – 08/2026