WASHINGTON, March 2, 2016 - Generating versatile biogas from
the largely untapped resource of organic wastes has tremendous potential. But
unleashing the full value of biogas and wastes depends on updating federal
energy and environmental regulations to put biogas on an equal footing with
wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.
Mark Stoermann managed the Fair
Oaks Dairy Farms biogas system in Indiana and now is chief operating
officer for Newtrient
LLC, a spinoff created to help other dairy farms reap biogas benefits. (For
more about Fair Oaks and the benefits of developing new markets for biogas
systems, see Multiple
markets help biogas compete in the Feb. 24 Energy Pulse newsletter.)
Stoermann tells Agri-Pulse
that operating a biogas system successfully is tough even in states like
Vermont “where they provide incentives for distributed electricity generation.”
But he’s hopeful that more states and federal agencies will rewrite their rules
to support biogas. He’s also optimistic that biogas will thrive as more
livestock operations build systems that provide energy, waste management, and
multiple environmental benefits. Along with reducing harmful emissions, those
extra benefits include recycling nitrogen and phosphorus to crops, keeping the
substances out of waterways, and reducing fertilizer imports.
Melissa VanOrnum, vice president of marketing at
Wisconsin-based DVO Inc., the U.S. market
leader in anaerobic digester systems, says it’s time to stop “wasting our
wastes.” She tells Agri-Pulse that
for every truckload of organic waste put through digesters, “we’d harness the
energy, we’d get the reduced greenhouse gases, and we would do a better job of
keeping our waterways clean as well.”
VanOrnum sees biogas growing as more areas ban the wasteful
practice of locking organic wastes in landfills. She adds that biogas will grow
even faster if USDA, EPA and the Energy Department follow through on their
plans to add new biogas-friendly regulations to initiatives like the Renewable
Fuel Standard, the Clean Power Plan, and the agencies’ grant and loan programs.
VanOrnum points out that many landfills capture biogas and generate
renewable electricity “but you never get the nutrients back. All the NPK stays in
the bottom of that big pit,” she says, referring to nitrogen, phosphorous and
potassium. Instead, she says, DVO’s patented digester systems can recapture
both nitrogen ammonia and up to 95 percent of the phosphorus so “you can put it
in a truck and take it where it’s needed,” keeping it out of the nation’s
waterways.
Digesters aren’t cheap, starting at around $1.8 million for
an electricity-only system at a typical 1,000-cow dairy farm. Adding more cows
or more add-ons to purify the gas to pipeline quality or recover nitrogen and
phosphorus drives up costs. Fair Oaks Farms has invested over $19 million in
its three-digester biogas system which generates compressed natural gas to fuel
the dairy’s milk tanker trucks and separates out nutrients for use as
high-value fertilizers.
Strategic
Conservation Solutions Principal Bruce Knight, a former USDA under
secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, tells Agri-Pulse that “One of the ways to create added value with a
digester is to take other organic wastes and tip them in with the cow manure.”
He says that by adding restaurant and food processing wastes, “your yields go
up,” creating multiple benefits from producing more energy, more nitrogen, and
more phosphorus while significantly reducing both imports and toxic emissions.
To take advantage of the full range of market opportunities,
USDA is working closely with the DOE and EPA to rewrite the agencies’ rules to
provide additional support for the biogas industry. One key change was
rewriting EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard in 2014 to include biogas.
Knight sees a need for many more regulatory changes. Looking
at USDA, Knight says that unfortunately, “biogas doesn’t always fit into the
finance structure in the Rural Development programs.” He specifically calls for
USDA to add biogas-friendly provisions to the Rural Energy for America Program
(REAP), the Value Added Producer Grant Program (VAPG), and the Biomass Crop
Assistance Program (BCAP).
American
Biogas Council Executive Director Patrick Serfass agrees on the need for
rule changes. He explains that although current tax breaks help biogas
electricity generation, similar support is needed “for biogas systems that
serve other markets such as nutrient recycling.”
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com