The onsite digester was commissioned at the beginning of 2010. Of the 2,300 dairy animals milked on-site, only about 1,050 of them provide manure that is utilized by the digester. The farm decided to only send manure from one of the free-stall barns so that they could continue to use sand bedding in the other barns. The anaerobic digester was originally designed to capture biogas and power a 416 kW genset.
This digester system prevents methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from being released into the atmosphere, thereby reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions from manure processed by the dairy.
In 2019, MCR was contracted to refurbish the biogas system. This included upgrading the digester with new technology capable of cleaning the methane gas and converting it into high quality Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) for use in heating or transportation.
A total of five farms contribute RNG to the system cluster. The gas processed at each farm is transported to a central location where it is injected into the interstate gas pipeline.
Collectively, the five farms generate about 305,000 million British thermal units (MMBtu) of RNG each year.
RNG production: 87 MMBtus/day
MCR Work Order Approval: April 2019
MCR Start Up and Commissioning: December 2019
Original anaerobic digester: 2010
Digester system type:
Mixed Plug Flow
Feedstocks:
Dairy manure
Engine-generator set: 416 kW Guascor CHP unit
