The Milk Producer - September 2011 - (Page 42)

ALTERNATIVEENERGY By Jennifer Green Biogas 101 Harnessing the power of your herd’s manure spins off multiple economic benefits A byproduct of milk production can power your equipment, heat your home and improve your crops while enhancing the dairy industry’s image as an environmentally friendly business with a shrinking carbon footprint. By processing that byproduct—cow manure—through an anaerobic digester, you can derive these and other benefits for your farm and the industry. Anaerobic digesters are extremely compatible with dairy farms. They provide reliable, flexible energy generation, more effective nutrient management and increased environmental stewardship. Anaerobic digestion uses bacteria to convert manure and other organic wastes into biogas and a nutrient-rich fertilizer known as digestate. The gas can generate renewable energy in the form of electricity and heat, and the digestate can improve your soil and crop yields. The Agrienergy Producers’ Association of Ontario (APAO), a non-profit organization, is the collective voice of Ontario’s growing biogas industry in the new sustainable energy economy. Founded in 2008 by dairy farmers and other interested people, the APAO works to develop biogas to its full potential by promoting opportunities, helping shape policy, creating networks and offering technical expertise to interested farmers. Eight Ontario dairy farmers already have made biogas systems a reality on their operations. Another 24 systems are currently under construction. Electricity As well as electricity sales, the attraction of a biogas investment is the return on manure management, odour reduction, digestate fertilizer and farm heating. In a broader context, biogas provides added value to the dairy industry through environmental improvements, financial opportunity and overall sustainable growth. A simple process, anaerobic digestion still relies on sophisticated know-how and technology. If you are considering a biogas system, you have to become informed about different technologies, the development process and operational requirements. An on-farm system, as illustrated in the graphic above, comprises ma- nure-handling equipment, storage and treatment for off-farm organic material, an anaerobic digester and a generator. Manure management is typically integral to most dairy operations, but may require modification to tie in with the biogas system. You also have to store and treat off-farm materials—added to increase biogas production—according to environmental regulations and protocols. An anaerobic digester is a heated vessel constructed to hold animal manure and organic waste while bacteria break it down, producing biogas and digestate as outputs. Collected biogas fuels a generator, which produces electricity and heat. 42 | September 2011 | MilkPRODUCER

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - September 2011

The Milk Producer - September 2011
Contents
Editor’s Notes
DFO Chair’s Message
Dairy Update
Johne’s Update
DFC Promotion
Producer Profile
Cover Story
Research
Applied Science
Ruminations
Alternative Energy
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - September 2011