Moving Small Digester Biogas to Market as a Replacement for Natural Gas

Philip Goodrich, Associate Professor
David Schmidt, Assistant Extension Engineer
Richard Huelskamp, Scientist
Verlyn Johnson, Information Technology Professional
Blanca Martinez, Scientist

Funding Source

Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI)

Objective

To assess the economic, technical, and environmental benefits of converting animal waste into biogas utilizing an on-site anaerobic digester, and then transforming the biogas into clean methane as a replacement for natural gas use in rural Minnesota.

Need or Impact

Methane produced from animal manure has a tremendous untapped potential to provide clean distributed energy from renewable biomass in Minnesota. Industries using natural gas for process heat can easily substitute refined biogas in their boilers and other processes. Smaller dairy operators (less than 300 head) may wish to export the biogas to market instead of making electricity onsite. However, the costs and benefits of doing this are not known for Minnesota conditions

Project Status

This project was started in 2005. Information on costs of three modes of transport is being collected. The costs of cleaning up the gas to enhance the value for markets are being evaluated to determine the increased value compared to the increased costs involved in the cleanup process. State and federal standards for various transportation modes have been investigated.