Methane digesters?

[Anonymous-0]

Every time I spread a load of manure, it just kills me to see all the steam and energy just go to waste.

AAre any of you guys toying with the idea of a plug-flow methane digester? I've heard there are a couple of dairies arond the country using them to good advantage, and a racetracl in S. FL is actually selling power back to the grid.

Any good sources or stories?

 

[JMS MN]

Google Haubenschild Dairy in Minnesota.

 

[paul]

I've heard of more that failed than have worked well. They seem to need a lot of tweeking & work to keep going.

--->Paul

 

[Bill-NNY]

Farm digesters were a big hit in the late 70's early 80's. A local 2 year state school had a small one on a 70 cow herd. Digester was shut down. The school no longer has an operating dairy or an ag curriculum,,, (not the fault of the digester,,lol) Here's a link to NY anaerobic projects. http://www.manuremanagement.cornell.edu/Lessons/List_anaerobicDigestion.aspx

A nearby farm has a Harvestore style digester that has just come online. $1.5 million dollar project.

Digesters can be just like a cow's stomach,, very fussy.
HTH
Bill
NY digester projects

 

[UU]

There is alot of info on the net about digesters there are certainly advantages to having one. With the rising fuel prices having an alternative fuel source should be an advantage. Dairy farmers & pig farmers should take advantage of this technology, not only can this fuel be used for heating but also for electricity generation. If you have a lot of waste then it shouldnt be a question of if you should install a digester but when.. Oh did you know that the byproduct of the digester is Fertilizer, sure thats gonna come in handy on a farm..I could talk all day so here are some links copy and paste them.
http://www.as-projects.com/Bio-Gas___Green_Fertilizer.html
http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~jiqin/PhotoDigester/PhotosDigesters.html
http://www.abo-wind.com/en/bioenergy/biogas_plant_functions.html
http://featured.matternetwork.com/2007/9/farmers-want-expand-energy-slice.cfm

Hope these links help....UU

 

[Mark]

I have no idea how fancy/advanced you want to be. But, I recall seeing a Discovery channel segment once and it featured a farmer"s wife in southeast asia, cooking over a two burner gas stove...fed by pig dung. seems their "digester" was a drum of sorts in which the pig poop was forked and the rising gas tapped to the stove. I often times wondered, if while eating dinner, he exclaimed, "Woman, this stuff tastes like $#*t!"