Biogas: Manure to Methane Generation

[Bdog]

http://www.montanagreenpower.com/harvestingcleanenergy/lusk.html

Phil Lusk of PRIME Technologies believes he’s found an environmentally friendly way to produce ethanol, feed cattle and keep South Dakota ranchers in business at the same time.

Working with the newly formed Dakota Value Capture Cooperative, Lusk says PRIME Technologies will build a "closed loop" facility in Sully County, South Dakota, consisting of an ethanol plant capable of producing 20 million gallons of ethanol annually and a climate-controlled feedlot capable of finishing 65,000 head of cattle a year.

Lusk explained the project at the Harvesting Clean Energy Conference October 9-11 in Great Falls.

The plant and feedlot will be connected by a state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion system that will capture odor and manure at the feedlot and convert it into methane, which will be burned at the ethanol plant. In addition, wet distillers grain, a byproduct of ethanol production, will be fed to cattle in the feedlot, thereby eliminating drying and transportation costs. This strategy will enable South Dakota producers and others to feed South Dakota corn and milo to beef cattle and "capture" value that has previously been exported to other states.

The Sully County facility will owned by the DVCC and will be built and managed on behalf of the coop by PRIME Technologies, LLC, which is also located in Pierre. This is the first facility of the kind a recent study conducted by the University of South Dakota said could create more than $500 million in new wealth annually in the state as well as 10,000 new jobs in rural communities. The study, commissioned by the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, said that this economic growth could be achieved by building large feedlots and dairies next to ethanol plants.

The coop board is made up of farmers and ranchers from across the state who want to capture profits lost to out-of-state feeders and processors. Contact Phil Lusk for more information.

[donco6]

1. We switched to biodiesel in all of our school buses.

Got a grant from the state to make the conversion.

[BiggJawn]

2. Wasn't much mechanical work involved was there?

Not like converting to Propane? I thought Bio-diesel was a matter of pour it in, turn it on?

Every year, the tractors that pull the people shuttles around the Indiana State Fair are Bio-diesel powered.

My worry is whether or not we can grow enough Soybeans to tell OPEC to GFT....

[donco6]

10. It was truly a piece of cake

It was amazing how LITTLE we had to do. I think for 25 buses it was about $5,000, and that was paid by the grant.

Our biod is costing about $1.25/gal. Wish I had it in my car . . .

[BiggJawn]

3. At my local "Superfund " site...

It's the old landfill that has been capped and turned into a field of gently rolling mounds covered in grass. Fact is, if there were lots of rabbits running around and a pinwheel, you'd expect to see Tinky-Winky coming over the hill....

Anyway, what you will see is all these little machines dotting the landscape. If you drive by at night, you can figure out what they are, because there's a blue flame coming out of each one....

That site will probably be gassing for decades to come, why can't they harvest and use that gas?

Ram Dass wouldn't have liked it either...

[kimchi]

4. They've been doing this in Japan for decades.

Glad we are getting smarter about using resources.

[many a good man]

5. WTF?

In addition, wet distillers grain, a byproduct of ethanol production, will be fed to cattle in the feedlot, thereby eliminating drying and transportation costs.


The byproduct from turning cow patties into energy is fed back to the cows???!!!

:wtf:

[JCMach1]

6. Not exactly...

methane powers the mechanical 'cracker' that turns grain into ethanol...

the left-over grain slurry is fed to the cows...

who then deliver the poop that powers makes the methane that powers the...

you get the picture...

[mike1963]

8. Sort of a biological perpetual motion machine...

:evilgrin:

Soylent brown, anybody?

[mike1963]

7. LOL, you threw me a double take for a minute, wondered who "Biogas"

was. (I read it as bi-OH-gus) Never heard of the guy.
:D

[ewagner]

9. I had the pleasure

of working with a group that was converting cow manure into electricity in Northeastern Wisconsin a couple of years ago. I was amazed at how environmentally friendly the whole operation was.