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Technical Articles and Reports

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Digestate Utilization in the U.S., written by Ron Alexander in the January 2012 issue of BioCycle, discusses profitable uses of digestate, the liquid or solid material generated after the anaerobic digestion process, such as using the dried solids as bedding and the liquid by-product as fertilizer.

Washington Dairies and Digesters (PDF) (21 pp, 913K), published by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in October 2011, provides a snapshot of six dairies with digesters in the state of Washington. The digester projects profiled in the report are FPE Renewables, George DeRuyter & Sons Dairy, Qualco Energy, Farm Power Rexville, Farm Power Lynden, and Van Dyk-S Holsteins.

Innovate: Manure to Money, written by David Ferris and published in the March/April 2012 issue of Sierra magazine, highlights the successful use of an anaerobic digester at Reinford Farms. Steve Reinford, owner of the dairy farm, has created a successful project in which he accepts food waste to increase the biogas produced by the system, sells digested solids as cow bedding, and earns renewable energy credits.

Harnessing the Power of Biomass Residuals: Opportunities and Challenges for Midwestern Renewable Energy (PDF) (38 pp, 1.6 MB), written by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, examines how the Midwest can utilize its sources of residual biomass, such as manure waste from agriculture, as a new source of energy. Since the Midwest has a large number of dairy farms, the report suggests anaerobic digesters are a great way to eliminate odors and produce energy.

Economic Feasibility of Converting Cow Manure to Electricity: A Case Study of the CVPS Cow Power Program in Vermont (PDF) (13 pp, 479K) is a case study published by Q. Wang, E. Thompson, R. Parsons, G. Rogers, and D. Dunn in the November 2011 issue of Journal of Dairy Science. The case study examines the technical and economic feasibility of Vermont Public Service Corporation's Cow Power program and confirms that programs such as Cow Power are technically feasible, but economic success depends on a variety of policy factors.

Contribution of Anaerobic Digesters to Emissions Mitigation and Electricity Generation Under U.S. Climate Policy (PDF) (8 pp, 856K) is a paper published by David P. M. Zaks, Niven Winchester, Christopher J. Kucharik, Carol C. Barford, Sergey Paltsev, and John M. Reilly in the July 2011 issue of Environmental Science and Technology. They found that by placing an economic value on the climate, energy, and environmental benefits from anaerobic digestion systems, digesters would become competitive at generating electricity in 2025 under a representative U.S. climate stabilization policy and could provide 5.5 percent of U.S. electricity.

Air Issues Associated with Animal Agriculture: A North American Perspective (PDF) (24 pp, 1.6MB) is a paper discussing the air quality issues associated with animal agriculture. It was published by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) in May 2011.

Great Lakes Region Food Industry Biogas Casebook (PDF) (55 pp, 3.5MB) is a March 2011 report by Joe Kramer at the Energy Center of Wisconsin. It is a compilation of case studies about biogas generation at food production facilities in the Great Lakes region.

The Biogas Opportunity in Wisconsin, 2011 Strategic Plan (PDF) (64 pp, 5MB), published by the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative, is a report focusing on the benefits and challenges of biogas production in Wisconsin and the United States that includes recommendations for advancing biogas projects through a number of short- and long-term measures.

Challenges and Opportunities for California's Dairy Economy (PDF) (149 pp, 6.4MB) is a report by Justin Ellerby at the California Center for Cooperative Development that discusses the potential for anaerobic digesters to help California farms comply with environmental regulations and generate higher profits. It was released in winter 2010.

Carbon Prices and the Adoption of Methane Digesters on Dairy and Hog Farms (PDF) (8 pp, 373K) is a brief prepared by USDA's Economic Research Service in February 2011 that discusses how digester profitability might increase with the future distribution of carbon offsets.

Climate Change Policy and the Adoption of Methane Digesters on Livestock Operations (PDF) (47 pp, 1.4MB), a February 2011 report by USDA's Economic Research Service, uses an economic model to show that carbon pricing and offsets could increase methane digester profits.

EPA's Waste to Biogas Mapping Tool is an interactive map designed to facilitate anaerobic digestion in EPA Region 9 (the Pacific Southwest) by connecting organic waste suppliers with potential users.

The Wisconsin Agricultural Biogas Casebook (PDF) (93 pp, 2.6MB), updated by Joe Kramer of the Energy Center of Wisconsin and published in December 2009 by Focus on Energy, describes the history and operations of the 21 Wisconsin farms operating anaerobic digester systems that year.

Anaerobic Digester Technology (PDF) (4 pp, 1.5MB) is an article by William Lazarus from the University of Minnesota that describes digester mechanics and benefits. It was presented at a June 2009 Transition to a Bio Economy Conference in Arkansas.

Anaerobic Digestion of Flushed Dairy Manure (PDF) (5 pp, 323K) is a paper presented by Ann C. Wilkie at the Anaerobic Digester Technology Applications in Animal Agriculture — A National Summit, hosted by the Water Environment Federation in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2003.

Haubenschild Farms Anaerobic Digester (PDF) (39 pp, 706K) is the Minnesota Project's August 2002 final report about the dairy's anaerobic digestion system.

AgSTAR Charter Farm Program: Experience with Five Floating Lagoon Covers (PDF) (7 pp, 56K) is a paper by K.F. Roos, M.A. Moser, and A.G. Martin that was presented at the Fourth Biomass Conference of the Americas, Oakland, California, August 29-September 2, 1999.

What to Expect When You Clean Out a Plug Flow Digester (PDF) (3 pp, 38K) is a paper by Jiayang Cheng, Kurt F. Roos, and Leland M. Saele published in the Proceedings of the North Carolina State University Animal Waste Management Symposium, Raleigh, North Carolina, January 27-28, 1999.

Langerwerf Dairy Digester Facelift (PDF) (6 pp, 51K) is a paper by Mark A. Moser and Leo Langenwerf that profiles the disassembly of a 400-cow plug flow digester in 1999. The paper documents the internal conditions of the digester and the follow-up work in the subsequent six weeks.

Anaerobic Digesters Control Odors, Reduce Pathogens, Improve Nutrient Manageability, Can be Cost Competitive with Lagoons, and Provide Energy Too! (PDF) (4 pp, 34K) is a paper by Mark Moser of Resource Conservation Management, Inc., who presented it at Iowa State University during a February 10-12, 1998 conference.

Benefits, Costs, and Operating Experience at Seven New Agricultural Anaerobic Digester (PDF) (7 pp, 57K) is a paper by Mark A. Moser, Richard P. Mattocks, Stacy Gettier, and Kurt Roos that profiles seven farm scale digesters in 1998 that AgSTAR has assisted in realizing.

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Schools of Interest

For more information on the research some of these schools are involved in, please check out AgSTAR's Research Web page.

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