Anaerobic Digestion Use Rises In The United States

Thanks to two pieces of recent legislation, 13addition, whey from their cheese making facility
additional methane systems are now underplus any feed waste is to be pumped into the
construction in the US, and renewable-energydigester tanks and composted at 100 degrees.
advocates are predicting that scores more areThe digester itself is kept warm by radiant
sure to follow. The Straus project is the first ofheating using simple plastic tubing.
14 methane projects to receive matching fundsThe methane will power a generator located near
from the California Energy Commission, one resultthe cheese plant producing sufficient electricity to
of incentives following the rolling blackouts thatpower the dairy barn (which holds 54 cows at
plagued the state during the summer of 2001.one time) plus the 88,000 sq ft cheese plant. The
With net metering, small producers like Straus canheat from the system will also help pre-warm the
reduce or erase their energy bills but cannot bewater for the plant\'s heat exchangers.
paid for pumping excess energy into the grid. NetThe Dennis Haubenschild dairy farm near
metering has been available to owners of homePrinceton, Minnesota reports that it has added
solar systems for several years, but it can alsoanother "one of the first" distinguished honors to
be used for digester power delivered into the grid.its list of accomplishments, after previous honors
For Anaerobic Digestion (biogas digestion) to reallyincluded the first methane digester to be built in
take off economically it is essential that the liquidMinnesota and that is said to be the first digester
and solid products - compost and liquid digestatein the world to run a hydrogen fuel cell off of
fertilsier - can be marketed and sold. There hasbiogas.
been recent success in this area as well.When the Haubenschilds began trading carbon
Garick has recently trademarked Moo Moss -credits from methane captured by their anaerobic
made from the fibrous solids (digestate)digester in November, they were only one of two
processed in the Tillamook Bay Port\'s digesterfarms in the nation to do so. Now there are a
and then pressed from the liquid fraction afterreported dozen plus farms trading carbon credits
anaerobic digestion, stabile enough to be usedfrom captured methane. The credits provide an
directly in nursery potting mixes. Thisadditional source of revenue for the farm and
trademarked product has proven itself as an idealaddress a growing, serious concern: global
alternative or amendment to peat moss inwarming.
nursery media.Perham, Minnesota. Reports that dairy farm
The story goes back to 2003, when the Port ofwastes could someday heat homes and dry
Tillamook Bay, Oregon constructed a centralizedclothes for residents of a northern Minnesota
methane digester to biologically process thetown as well.
manure from 4000 of the county\'s 30,000 dairyTobkin has designed a city-rural cooperation
cows. The project was 14 years in developmentscheme where, besides dairy manure, a digester
as MEAD (Methane Energy and Agriculturalwould convert waste from one of the city’s
Development). The facility, owned and managedbiggest employers, Barrel O’ Fun, into energy.
by the Port, utilizes simple, proven cost-effectivePrimera Foods, another Perham business, has also
digester, solids separation and biogas-to-electricityexpressed interest. Waste diverted to the
technology also now currently being employed atdigester would ease burdens on the city’s
over a dozen sites nationally.wastewater handling system, Tobkin says,
By summer, the methane digester will handle theallowing industry to expand. Perham could sustain
fresh manure generated by Fiscalini\'s Californianmore jobs without increasing its wastewater
1,500 Holstein, Jersey and Brown Swiss herd. Intreatment capacity.