ARS engineers at the ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water and Plant Research Center in South Carolina are studying how to use a technique called wet gasification to turn wet manure slurry into energy-rich gases and produce water. The ARS team developed a patented cost-benefit model of a wet gasification technology to calculate estimated returns, and concluded that liquid swine wastes can generate a net energy potential comparable to brown coal. The team is also investigating methods for producing a type of charcoal – called green coal – from manure. Green coal can be burned on the farm for energy or transported offsite to coal plants for fuel. It can also be added to the soil, a practice that would reduce greenhouse gases by permanently sequestering carbon in the soil in the form of the green coal.