Table Of ContentFeasibility Study of Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Utilization
Options for the Proposed Lewis County Community Digester
Cooperative Extension Final Report
Lewis County June 2010
(updated)
www.manuremanagement.cornell.edu
Feasibility Study of Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Utilization
Options for the Proposed Lewis County Community Digester
By:
Curt Gooch, P.E.1, Senior Extension Associate
Jennifer Pronto1, Research Support Specialist
Brent Gloy, Ph.D2, Professor
Norm Scott, Ph.D1, Professor
Steve McGlynn1, Research Support Specialist
Christopher Bentley1, Undergraduate Student
1Biological and Environmental Engineering Department
2Department of Applied Economics and Management
334 Riley-Robb Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
June 11, 2010
Updated June 30, 2010
Foreword
The Feasibility Study of Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Utilization Options for the Proposed Lewis
County Community Digester project is not a feasibility study in its strictest definition, but rather an
assessment of the farm and non-farm biomass resources available in and around the village of Lowville,
an investigation into the available options for co-digesting them (various combinations of materials and
site locations), an estimation of the biogas that could be produced by the various scenarios, the resulting
energy produced, and net energy available for use, and an economic profitability assessment for each of
the options investigated. The scope of work for this project was somewhat dynamic as adjustments
were continually made based on progress of evaluating the information at hand. This report was
written to provide the findings and recommendations of the feasibility study to the client, the Lowville
Digester Workgroup, and also to serve as an educational tool for the stakeholders of this and future
proposed centralized anaerobic digester projects.
The proposed Lewis County Community Digester project exemplifies the full potential of a centralized
anaerobic digester. Manure and, waste biomass materials (processing byproducts from multiple
sources), are mixed together and heated to produce biogas; a locally generated, clean burning,
renewable energy. Waste biomass is generated daily by food processing plants and restaurants, public
facilities and institutions such as schools and hospitals, and at private residences. Co-digesting manure
and these materials reduces the burden on landfills and reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The
U.S. dairy industry has formally committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 25% by 2020 and this
project is an example of how this can be effectively accomplished, from a technical/applied perspective.
In fact, the Lewis County Community Digester project demonstrates the vision behind “Dairyville 2020”
– the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy’s Dairy Power Initiative flagship project. The major shortcomings
at this point are high capital costs and less than required energy purchase prices needed to make such
systems economically feasible.
Acknowledgements
This document is the culmination of a team effort by the authors and many others who provided their
assistance and support. The authors wish to acknowledge and thank the following individuals/groups
for their contributions:
Senator Joseph Griffo, 47th District in New York State, for funding this project and for his continued
interest.
The dairy farmers of Lewis County who completed the farm surveys.
Representatives for the non-farm biomass suppliers who completed the non-farm surveys.
Drs. Dave C. Ludington and Michael B. Timmons, Professor Emeritus and Professor, respectively, of
Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University for their efforts in reviewing drafts of the
feasibility study and for their constructive inputs and suggestions.
Members of the Lowville Digester Workgroup for their confidence in the Cornell team to provide a
feasibility study that would contain unbiased information and for their teamwork and collaboration
while the feasibility study was being conducted.
Ms. Christine Ashdown (Cornell Office of Sponsored Programs) for her timely efforts in developing the
contract for this project and for her continued support to funded project opportunities pursued by
members of the Cornell PRO-DAIRY program.
Ms. Michele Ledoux (Cornell Cooperative Extension – Lewis County) for her trust in the Cornell team
and for her work in securing the funding and performing contract administration tasks that resulted in a
workable means to performing this work.
Ms. Norma McDonald (North American Sales Manager, Organic Waste Systems, Inc.) for providing key
information on energy crop digesters suitable for U.S. applications needed to perform the annual
economic profitability analysis for the energy crop digester scenarios investigated.
Mr. Todd Vernon (Senior Sales Manager, GE Energy – Jenbacher) for providing key information on the
Jenbacher engine-generator sets needed to perform the annual economic profitability analysis.
Mr. Frans Vokey (Cornell Cooperative Extension – Lewis County) for his overall leadership of the
Lowville Digester Workgroup and Cornell collaboration, and for all of his efforts in planning and running
project meetings.
Mary Beth Anderson (community resident) for her assistance in collecting samples from non-farm
biomass suppliers and for work on distributing and collecting non-farm biomass surveys.
Mike Durant (Soil and Water Conservation District) for designing the project map.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Table of Figures
Table of Tables
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Executive Summary p. 1
Introduction p. 15
Chapter 1. Basics of Centralized Dairy Manure-based Anaerobic Digestion, Biogas Utilization, p. 23
and Nutrient Recovery Systems
Chapter 2. Literature Review of Centralized AD Projects p. 39
Chapter 3. Farm and Community Biomass Survey p. 49
Chapter 4. Biomass Sample Collection and Analysis p. 61
Chapter 5. Biomass Transportation p. 71
Chapter 6. Preliminary Investigation of Five AD Scenarios p. 77
Chapter 7. Final AD Scenario Selection and Details p. 93
Chapter 8. Next Steps and Recommendations p. 115
References p. 117
Appendix
A. Glossary of terms p. 121
B. Farm-based Survey p. 127
C. Non Farm-Based Survey p. 131
D. Substrate Sampling Report p. 133
E. Biochemical Methane Potential; Laboratory Procedure p. 137
F. Projected Farm Survey Responses p. 139
Description:Jun 11, 2010 Assuming the non-farm biomass imported for co-digestion supplies excess .
profitability analysis using the results of the proposed RFP.
