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Area firm pursues bio-gas generator |
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Thursday, 30 August 2007 |
By KAY LOUTH
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — Midwest Electric is adding a little more green power to its product mix thanks to a bio-gas generator that will soon be implemented in Ohio.
Wenning Poultry in St. Henry is in the process of setting up a unit that will transform chicken manure into fuel that will be used to power machines to generate electricity. Midwest spokesman Matt Berry said the methane digester project is among the first in Ohio.
Wayne Bostrick of WAB Associates of Minster said the Mercer County farm is installing a methane digester that uses bacteria to turn waste into wattage. Buckeye Power and Midwest Electric entered an agreement to purchase the power.
Even the 600-kilowatt generator engines will be fueled by bio-gas collected from the digester. The total output will be 1.8 megawatts, which is enough to power about 300 area homes. The system is expected to generate the electricity on an almost continuous basis.
While 300 homes may not sound like a lot out of the 10,500 Midwest customers, Berry said it is still a sizable project and helps the company diversify its power point portfolio.
“It gets us into renewable energy and that’s a big push nationwide,” Berry said. “It’s good for the environment, good for the customers, good for Midwest and good for Wenning.”
This is not the first time Midwest Electric ventured into alternative energy sources. The company has a couple of wind test projects in the area, including one in Convoy and one in Indian Lake.
Wenning’s system will be connected to Midwest’s distribution system and flow all the output through a meter. Buckeye Power will purchase the output and deliver it to the Midwest system as a new delivery point.
“The digester is quite large at 205 feet long, 72 wide and 16 feet deep.” Bostick said. “That's a pretty good size concrete vessel.”
Bostick said the excavation for the project is complete. The anaerobic digester is expected to be up and running by December.
The manure flows into the vessel and stays there for approximately 20 days to give the bacteria a chance to create a product that is 56 percent methane with the remainder being carbon dioxide. At the end of the process, the gas is piped off and used to run generators.
The remaining solid waste and liquid is separated out. Bostick said the leftover product is a clean and free of harmful bacteria like E. coli and is essentially odor free.
“The real advantage in the digestive process is that the nutrients are converted into an inorganic mix,” Bostick said. “The bad bacteria is gone. There’s added value in the manure and you don’t have the social issue.”
The remaining solids can be used for bedding and Bostick said there are farms in Indiana that use it at their cattle farms. The product can also be introduced into the soil as a soil amendment.
He also said the liquid can be stored in a lagoon and spread onto fields when it’s convenient to the farmer. It also safer for the environment in that it can spread when the land can readily absorb it rather than during times of high saturation or on frozen fields when there’s a danger of run-off.
"It (the digester system) will be a good value-added benefit to the farm product here,” said Jim Wenning, owner of the poultry farm.
The system isn’t just for farmers. Meat packing plants, dairy plants and vegetable processors also can use the system along with municipal sewage treatment plants and other waste treatment facilities.
In addition to the three products gained from the process, the waste heat — in the form of hot water — is collected during the process. The remaining waste heat can be used by the farm as a replacement for hot water production, which could reduce the need for natural gas or propane purchases.
“It will give us more avenues and markets for the manure, such as providing cleaner compost for organic farming,” Wenning said. "The United States is depleting its carbon sources in soil, and this end product will add carbon to the soil for those who use this manure. Commercial fertilizers are salt-based and in time will deplete the soils. This
will be a good niche — something they can't find anywhere else."
GHD Associates, a Wisconsin firm, designed the digester system. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a $500,000 grant for the aerobic digester system.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 September 2007 )
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