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| You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download, to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader. |
Below is an array of information related to manure management systems. All products and documents are downloadable. Articles and news are added as they become available. We also welcome submissions from others who might come across information of interest.
2007 Update on Anaerobic Digester Systems (PDF, 2 pp., 174 KB) provides summary information on currently installed systems.
Managing Manure with Biogas Recovery Systems: Improved Performance at Competitive Costs (PDF, 8 pp., 4.3 MB) This brochure provides background information about anaerobic digestion, and explains how the methane produced from this process can be captured and used to generate heat, hot water, and electricity. It also includes information for dairy and swine farmers to help them determine if a biogas recovery system is right for their farm and describes the environmental benefits of anaerobic digestion systems and provides a table that compares the cost and environmental effectiveness of conventional animal waste systems to anaerobic digester systems.
AgSTAR Digest contains all editions of the program's annual newsletter.
AgSTAR Press contains news and media articles on digester systems.
Rural Energy for America Program - Financial incentives have increased the deployment rate of manure digester systems. For example, grants and loans awarded by USDA Rural Development 
through the Farm Bill have been one of the primary methods for farms to partially fund installation of commercially proven livestock waste digestion technologies. Since 2003, USDA Rural Development has awarded more than $40 million for anaerobic digestion systems.
AgSTAR Handbook and Software is a comprehensive manual developed to provide guidance on developing biogas technology at commercial farms. The Handbook also contains FarmWare, an expert decision support software package that can be used to conduct prefeasability assessments.
Market Opportunities Report (PDF, 40 pp., 3,125 KB) assesses the market potential for biogas energy projects at swine and dairy farms in the United States. For the top ten swine and dairy states, the guide characterizes the sizes and types of operations where biogas projects are technically feasible, along with estimates of potential methane production, electricity generation, and greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Funding On-Farm Biogas Recovery Systems: A Guide to Federal and State Resources provides information about programs and strategies, such as low-interest loans, grants, and tax incentives, that can help parties interested in implementing anaerobic digestion technology overcome financial barriers to project development.
Industry Directory for On-Farm Biogas Recovery Systems (Nov. 2008) (PDF, 52 pp., 1.1MB) The AgSTAR Industry Directory helps farm owners and others interested in on-farm biogas recovery systems identify appropriate consultants, project developers, energy services, equipment manufacturers and distributors, and commodity organizations. It provides company descriptions and contact information for each listed business.
A Protocol for Quantifying and Reporting the Performance of Anaerobic Digestion Systems for Livestock Manures (PDF, 33 pp., 239 KB) This protocol for assessing digester performance was developed by consensus of stakeholders representing EPA, USDA, academia, system developers, agricultural engineers, electric utilities, and State energy and agricultural agencies.
Overview of a Protocol for Quantifying and Reporting the Performance of Anaerobic Digestion Systems for Livestock Manures (PDF, 9 pp., 108 KB) Jack Martin, Hall Associates, presented this paper at the American Society of Agriculture and Biological Engineer's International Symposium on Air Quality and Waste Management for Agriculture, September 16, 2007. The paper provides an overview of the protocol's development and content.
Comparison of the Performance of a Conventional and a Modified Plug-Flow Digester for Scraped Dairy Manure (PDF, 8 pp., 127 KB) Jack Martin, Hall Associates, presented this paper at the American Society of Agriculture and Biological Engineer's International Symposium on Air Quality and Waste Management for Agriculture, September 16, 2007. Co-authored with Kurt Roos, AgSTAR, this paper presents a comparison of the performance of a conventional and a modified plug-flow digester for scraped dairy cattle manure based on results from 12-month studies to characterize the performance of each design with respect to waste stabilization and biogas production and utilization.
USDA-NRCS Biogas Interim Standards are
available here. They are also available in Appendix F of the Handbook or
from USDA's website at www.usda.gov.
Technical Reports and Articles contains an array of technical, economic, and science based publications. Understanding that there is an enormous volume of waste management related publications we try to screen and post publications that have a high degree of merit relative to the subject area.
An Evaluation of a Covered Anaerobic Lagoon for Flushed Dairy Cattle Manure Stabilization and Biogas Production (PDF, 46 pp., 140 KB) Part of a series of AgSTAR studies designed to characterize environmental and financial improvements provided by anaerobic digesters, this report analyses the performance and associated costs of a manure management system operating on a flush dairy in California. The study’s focus was the performance of an unheated, covered anaerobic lagoon in a subtropical climate with biogas utilization to produce electricity.
A Comparison of Dairy Cattle Manure Management with and without Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Utilization (PDF, 59 pp., 543 KB) Part of a series of AgSTAR studies designed to characterize environmental and financial improvements provided by anaerobic digesters, this report compares the performance and associated costs of two dairy manure management strategies at two typical upstate New York dairy farms. One of these farms uses a storage pond, and the other uses a plug-flow digester with biogas utilization to produce electricity.
Evaluation of Mesophilic, Modified Plug Flow Anaerobic Digester for Dairy Cattle Manure (PDF, 38 pp., 372 KB) Part of a series of AgSTAR studies designed to characterize environmental and financial improvements provided by anaerobic digesters, this report analyses the performance of a manure management system operating on a dairy in Wisconsin. The study’s focus was the performance of a modified plug-flow anaerobic digester for dairy cattle manure in a cold climate, as well as the performance of a screw press type separator for the recovery of coarse solids.
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Documents, Tools and Resources