Capturing Biogas:  Good for the Climate, Environment, Heat and Power

For example, Patterson Farms, Inc. of Auburn NY, an 1,800 head dairy farm, installed an aerobic digester to control odor and improve manure management. The farm mixes the manure with food waste from a nearby cheese plant run by Kraft Foods, which pays a tipping fee. The farm uses the gas to heat the digester and to produce electricity. In another example of a successful and innovative biogas project, ethanol producer Poet recently announced the completion of a 10-mile landfill gas (LFG) pipeline from the Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill to its 105 million gallon per year ethanol plant. The pipeline, which has been supplying the plant’s boilers with LFG since late February, provides additional revenue to Sioux Falls and lowers the ethanol plant’s energy costs.