Pig poo power the answer to China’s porky poser?

(Reuters) - Seven hundred million pigs produce a lot of poo.

China’s love of pork presents a mountain of a problem for the environment, 1.4 million metric tons (1.5 million tons) of pig poo a year to be precise, but an Australian company believes it has part of the answer.

Why not turn the pig poo into power?

Using a bioreactor called “PooCareTM” and other technology, the pig manure is converted into biofuel for cooking and heating while the residual goes to farmers as nutrient-rich fertilizers.

“The benefits are energy and fuel for farmers as well as preventing further contamination of the environment,” said Ravi Naidu, chief scientist at CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC Care), a South Australian-based firm involved in drawing up the technology.

“So it’s really a green technology from that perspective,” Naidu, a University of South Australia professor, told Reuters.

Pork, the most universal animal.

Mmmmmm…bacon.