Technical Analysis

Anaerobic Digester

Steps:

- Organic material delivered to digester system

o Animal manure, food scraps, agricultural residues, wastewater solids
- Organic material broken down in a digester
o Digester: one or more airtight tanks equipped for mixing and warming organic material.
Naturally occurring microorganisms thrive in anoxic environment and break down
(digest) organic material into usable products such as biogas and digested materials.
- Raw biogas processed
o Biogas is mostly methane, the primary component of natural gas. Biogas must be
processed to remove non-methane components (CO2, H20, other trace compounds)
- Processed biogas distributed and used
o Can be used to produce heat, electricity, vehicle fuel, or injected into natural gas
pipelines
- Digested material processed and distributed
o Fertilizers, compost, soil amendments, animal bedding

Energy Benefits:

 net-energy producing process

 multiple existing biogas end-
use applications, including:
o heat-only
o electric-only
o combined heat and power
o pipeline quality biomethane
o transportation fuel
 baseload / dispatchable energy source (vs. intermittent wind and solar)
 distributed generation (which means lower transmission / transportation costs and higher
reliability)
 direct replacement for non-renewable fossil fuels

Environmental Benefits:

 dramatic odor reduction

 reducing landfill size/use
o “Food waste is the single largest type of waste entering our landfills,” with the USA
generating over 36 million tons food waste in 2012 alone, according to the EPA
 reduced pathogen levels
 reduced greenhouse gas emissions
o Methane produced replaces the fossil fuels that would normally be used to heat home.
It also avoids the emission of methane into the atmosphere via decomposition of
 organic material that might otherwise occur. Given that methane has 20 times the effect
on climate change than carbon dioxide, minimizing the amount released into the
atmosphere can greatly slow the rate of climate change and preserve the environment.
 platform for reducing nutrient runoff
 increased crop yield

Economic Benefits:
 turns cost item (i.e., waste treatment) into revenue-generating opportunity
 Biogas systems are potentially less vulnerable to grid failures that can halt vital services
