Can anyone identify projects in the US, preferably the Midwest, that have used ZERI-type integrated technologies that harvest methane, bio-fertilizer, plant biomass and fish from concentrations of animal wastes (hog or cattle)? Can anyone identify people I might contact about this? Can anyone identify people who could discuss the pros and cons (at different scales) of biodigesting and gasifying manure, manure-sawdust mixes, manure-urine mixes, fresh urine, stored manure. Can anyone identify projects in the U.S., preferably the Midwest, that exhaust heat from animal confinement buildings, link greenhouses with animal confinement buildings, use water baths to filter air to remove particulate matter and/or odor from animal confinement building exhaust air, and that use this rinse water in some way? Can anyone identify people I might contact about this? Can anyone identify experts in the range of potential uses of greenhouse (hydroponics, soil-based plant production, ornamentals, vegetables, and so on) linked with animal confinement buildings and/or animal waste streams? Can anyone identify people who can discuss the nutrient value of hog urine; and the potentials and issues associated with use of hog urine as a nitrogen source.
Thanks for your help,
John Motloch
Director, Land Design Institute
Professor of Landscape Architecture
Ball State University
765-285-7561 (phone)
Intergrated Technologies for Harvesting Methane, Bio-fertilizer, Plant Biomass and Fish from Concentrated Animal Wastes
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John,
BioCycle magazine is published here in the US and covers these issues extensively. See http://www.jgpress.com/biocycle.htm. They produce special issues, and articles in every issue. As well, they produce conferences from time to time on energy recovery from biomass, where EVERYONE who is researching in this field gathers and shares experiences. Many projects of the type you describe are presented. A scan of the magazine and a call to the publisher, Jerry Goldstein, would help you get in touch with the people who are doing these types of projects. Jerry will know who are the consultants and leaders in this field. The "Agricultural Biogas Casebook - 2004 Update" will point you to many projects - not too far from you - in this field. See http://www.cglg.org/biomass/AgriculturalBiogasCasebook.pdf. Last year, a guy from Iowa called his state "the Saudi Arabia of biomass energy production." There are a host of policy and technical initiatives, especially throughout the midwest, going on. USDA also recently published a monograph called "Biomass as Feedstock for A Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply." See http://www.woodycrops.org/reports/Billion%20Ton%20Supply%20-%20Final%20.pdf. I've done some overview research in this field; let me know if I can help.
Good luck,
Anne Peters
Gracestone, Inc.
303.494.4934
vox 303.494.4880 fax
John,
I'm not sure as to the level of detail or the purpose of your inquiries but ... I work for the US Dept. of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and am currently located in Maryland. We are a federal agency so we have offices in every state of the US. I have been working with a dairy farmer in Maryland who wants to build a methane digester and manure composting system. He has (for Maryland) a fairly large operation (~800 cows) and recently bought another dairy farm to expand his operation. We (the NRCS) are working with him through our Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) http://www.md.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/eqip2005.html and our Conservation Security Program (CSP) http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp/ to help provide funds to get a methane digester built in Maryland. The state arm of the Department of Energy .. the Maryland Energy Administration is also working with us and is excited about the prospect of having a methane digester in the state. We are also working with the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Unlike other states, Maryland is not as experienced with utility companies working WITH landowners who generate power off the grid. Only fairly recently have our utility companies been willing to allow someone to connect to the grid. The dairy farmer that we are working with wants to connect to the grid and sell back generated electricity. He really wanted to just sell natural gas but for his size operation the costs of cleaning the methane gas and pressurizing it would be prohibitive. The landowner is putting up quite a bit of his own money to match the cost-share of our programs. He knows that on down the road he will have to do something to deal with the odor of his dairy cow manure as well as the volume of manure. Continued population pressures and environmental regulations are pushing producers in the direction of technologies such as methane digesters and composting. The whole system will most likely run over $1million when it is complete. The anaerobic plug flow digester alone should run close to $400K. We are currently working on a feasibility study to help this dairy farmer scope out his various options and also help him determine the best type of digester and the best location. Aside from this project I have also done a bit of research just to learn about digesters. There is a wealth of information on the world wide web. New York state is heavy into energy conservation and energy generation, as is Pennsylvania. I would be happy to share information with you and I might suggest that you first contact your own Indiana Department of Agriculture as well as your Indiana Energy Administration, to see if they have any active projects or knowledge of projects that might be of interest to you. The dairy farmer that we are working with mentioned that he had recently visited quite a few dairy farms in the mid-west, who were generating and selling energy to their local utility companies, and buying it back.
Regards,
Andrea Clarke
[email protected]
443-482-2932