Zeolite - Reducing Methane from Cows

During the Global Climate Summit in Scotland on November 2, 2021, President Biden pledged to cut planet warming methane by forty-one million tons by 2035. Methane (CH4) is a chemical compound made up of one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms. It is the second most abundant greenhouse gas and a major contributor to climate change.

Cows are responsible for about 40% of global methane emissions and methane reduction from cattle and other ruminant animals may be “low hanging fruit” and one of the easiest and fastest ways to significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions in the short term.

The methane that cows release into the atmosphere from belching and passing gas is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than even the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels. Ruminant livestock (cattle, sheep, buffalo, goats, deer, camels, etc.) have a fore-stomach (or rumen) containing microbes called methanogens which produce methane as a by-product of digestion.

Zeolite is a naturally occurring organic mineral that can be used as an ion exchanger and molecular sieve. Zeolites are three-dimensional microporous, crystalline solids with well-defined structures that contain cations and water in the pores.

Through the process of ADsorption and ABsorption, Zeolite as a feed additive or supplement, can reduce methane emissions from ruminant livestock by inhibiting the microorganisms that produce methane in the rumen and subsequently reduce methane emissions.