Minneapolis-Agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. is joining with an innovator in renewable biofuels to help farmers and others turn their wastes into energy and fertilizer while contributing to improving the environment. Cargill’s emission reductions services will be working with a subsidiary of Environmental Power Corp. (EPC) of Portsmouth, N.H., to identify opportunities for agriculture and others in the food supply chain to utilize anaerobic digestion technology and transform their waste products into a renewable natural gas and a liquid byproduct that could be processed into fertilizer, according to officials with both companies. At the same time, they report, participants could earn greenhouse production offset credits that can be used on international exchanges. Currently, digesters are in use in agriculture, particularly with dairy farms that have to deal with a large amount of animal waste. California, a large dairy producing state, offers grants to help offset costs, which can run a million dollars or more. “We are impressed with the technology for extracting biogas from the agri-food waste stream,” said Eugenio Meschini, managing director of the Cargill emission reductions branch. “Beyond producing clean, reliable energy, this technology may help our customers and business partners manage their waste and improve their bottom lines.” As part of the deal, Cargill will receive warrants for purchasing EPC stock. Mike Casper, regional manager for the EPC subsidiary Microgy Inc., told Green Markets the effluent ?Çô which is typically 3 to 5 percent solids ?Çô can be treated further to remove additional solids and separate the NPK elements found in commercial fertilizer. “Basically, what goes in the digester comes out of the digester, except for approximately 5 percent of the overall volume that is broken down to produce the approximately 65 percent methane biogas. The substrate or food waste material makes up approximately 10 percent of the overall volume.”
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain