Bakersfield, Calif.-BioEnergy Solutions plans to start this summer to demonstrate how dairy manure can be turned into large-scale methane and fertilizer production, according to officials with the startup waste-to-energy company. BioEnergy is getting ready to capture 500,000 cubic feet a day or up to three billion cubic feet a year of renewable natural gas from the decomposing wastes of 3,000 cows. At the same time officials are talking with organic fertilizer companies about using the liquids that remain with their products. In the meantime, reported Doug Williams, BioEnergy’s chief technical officer, solids screened out in advance for compost and bedding and the left-over liquids will be recycled back to the dairy farmer. Williams said the first undertaking will be at Vintage Dairy in Fresno County where cow manure will be flushed into covered lagoons spread over 7 ½ acres and containing up to 40 million gallons. Williams said the lagoons will be turned into giant digesters to decompose manure under high-density polytarps to trap and collect the methane in a piping system and scrub it for delivery to Pacific Gas & Electric. PG&E will use the renewable energy to generate electricity for as many as 50,000 California homes. Vintage owner David Albers who is also BioEnergy founder and chairman said the project will show how an otherwise growing problem can be turned into a new revenue source for farmers.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain