New North may be on leading edge of growing biodegester industry

From an article by Rich Redman on Insight:

Don’t let waste go to waste. That’s Gary Radloff’s thinking. The interim director of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative (WBI) housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says “we have the opportunity to take waste and make something of it!”

Radloff, who recently keynoted a roundtable session called Biogas Opportunities in Wisconsin and The New North at Short Elliott Hendrickson in Appleton, is a firm believer that “this region of the country is well positioned to take advantage of the bio-economy – lots of historical experience with wood pulp and agriculture.”

Biogas is produced by the anaerobic (absence of oxygen) decomposition of organic matter. Waste such as cow manure, crop residue or byproducts from milk and cheese plants is fed into a closed vessel called a biodigester. There, microbes in the presence of heat and absence of oxygen break down the organic matter to create biogas, which is made up of 50 to 75 percent methane.

The methane can be then combusted for electricity and heat or upgraded for use in pipelines or transportation fuel. Depending on the digester technology chosen, there can be two other valuable byproducts of the decomposition process: nutrient-rich solids that can be used for fertilizer, animal bedding, particle board or fill dirt; and a non-odorous liquid rich in nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus that can be applied to farm fields as fertilizer.

The interest in biogas has grown significantly in the past 15 years, Radloff says. Germany is the world leader in this technology, with more than 6,000 plants.

In contrast, as of December 2010, there were only 152 farm scale biogas facilities in the United States. Wisconsin leads all states with 26 on-farm plants.

The Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative’s 2011 strategic plan points out that about 82 percent of Wisconsin’s energy comes from out-of-state sources. About $18 billion leaves the state each year to purchase energy for businesses, power to heat homes and fuel vehicles. The same research shows that, if the 23 million tons of manure produced each year were converted to natural gas, Wisconsin would offset 4.4 percent of its energy need – a $185 million underutilized opportunity.