[Digestion] that comprehensive biogas clean-up technologies manual...

[JGrahame Bell]

Kathleen O'Connor <kmo at nyserda.org> wrote:
   
  Re: Digestion Digest, Vol 2, Issue 7
   
  All,
I spoke to Kim Crossman, Team Leader of the EPA's Combined Heat and Power Partnership http://www.epa.gov/chp/index.htm) yesterday. They are developing a comprehensive biogas clean-up technologies manual that should be available next month. 
  (NYSERDA is also funding a comprehensive review of biogas clean-up and emissions control technologies that will ultimately be developed in to a document for public dissemination. It should be available early next year.)

Sincerely, Kathleen O'Connor, P.E.
Project Manager,  Environmental Research

NYSERDA
17 Columbia Circle
Albany, NY 12203
kmo at nyserda.org
(518) 862-1090 ext. 3422
(518) 862-1091

  ----------------------------------
   
  Well..., now..., Ms. K,.., maybe we ARE getting somewhere.
   
  Like AD technology, the Digestion Blog appears to have developed a "feast or famine" appetite.
  [no pun intended, of course]
   
  From:      "No news is not good news..."
  To:          "Let's look at AD from both directions..."
   
  Maximizing the benefits ( ie, the methane) and minimizing the other problems ( ie, the sludge )
   
   
  Permit me to, briefly, explain:
   
  For about a year now I have been looking very closely at all of the AD systems that have been built, as well as those that are being proposed to be built, in the Pacific Northwest -- WA, Or & ID.
   
  To do that, however, required that we look at ALL of the animal waste AD systems that were being marketed in the US, to compare all of the benefits and features, and all of the drawbacks, of each system.
   
    -----------------------
   
  When I worked for the WA Legislature, we learned to ask two questions:
   
          "Does the Bill actually do what the sponsor intended, and/or is there a better way to do it?"
  and
         "What else does the Bill do, or not do; whether it was intended or not."
   
  Those are also the questions that we are applying to the US marketed AD systems.
   
  ------------------------

   
  What we discovered is truly fascinating.
   
  Most of the AD systems that have been built use very old AD technology, do NOT even try, let alone talk about, maximizing the methane production, and never, ever talk about all those "other things"..., like phosphorus overloading, ammonia, CO2, heavy metals & the pathogens, and also the remaining solids and what to do with or about them.
   
  None of the installed AD systems in the PNW will tell you if they work or how well -- no info about how clean the poop will get, no info on the amount of methane produced, no info about what steps were taken or could be taken to address The Other Problems.
   
  Few of the AD systems used the methane to produce energy, and the ones that do use older style, inefficient generators to produce small amounts of electricity.  Per chance, have you ever heard of Grand Coulee Dam ??  If so, you too might wonder:
   
       "Why, of all the places on the face of the earth, would you focus on producing electricity in the PNW ?
  and
       "Why, if you are going to convert methane into electricity, wouldn't you try to maximize the methane?
       " And, the electricity?"
   
  There are some newer AD systems that in fact do try to address some of these issues/questions.
   
  One of the AD systems being marketed in the US is of European origin, and one its most attractive features is that it actually does produce much more methane than the other AD systems.  While the how of what they are doing is proprietary, it is clear that they use a blended feedstook, and they are thermophilic.
  They do not emphasize any attempts to address The Other Problems, cuz they don't.
   
  Another AD system, home grown it appears, and strongly supported by Robert Kennedy Jr, DOES emphasize the efforts that their system makes to minimize The Other Problems.
  They do not attempt to maximize the methane/energy production, and they do not address all of The Other Problems.
   
  What we have found is that while no AD system, as yet, appears to address all of the potential benefits of AD technologies, and/or all of The Other Problems...
  some of the better, newer AD systems do in fact address one of more of The Other Problems.
   
  One AD system uses heat, pasteurization, to solve many of the problems.
   
  Another uses membrane filter technology to solve many others.
   
  One system is looking at the use of ozone instead of pasteurization.
   
  And, while most AD system talk about maximizing the profits that can be obtained from various aspect of the AD process..., some of them are, in fact, really doing it.
   
  It's like using soybeans and corn to produce biodiesel and/or ethanol.
  Makes a lot of sense to the producers of soybeans and corn..., and their politicians...
  but not much economic sense at all.
  There are better ways to do it, and it creates more problems than it solves.
   
  Similarly, with AD.
   
  There are a number of ways that are being and that can be used to increase the methane production, and not incidentally clean up the waste a lot better.
  However, just as the critters that we use for dairy cows vs horses vs chickens vs we humans differ in the AD process, so also do the feedstook additives.
  HOW we increase the methane changes the nature and quantities of The Other Problems that ought to be addressed at the same time.
   
  There are also a number of ways that are being used, and that are being proposed, to address each of The Other Problems.
  Some simple, some really innovative, and some surprisingly profitable.
  No system currently addresses them all, and no system uses them all.
  But, it can, and should we say it should, be done.
   
  Ms K, while my research has been systematic, there is no way that we have, or probably can, identify ALL of The Other Problems.  However, to the extent that your discovery helps us do that, great.
   
  And, while we look for the solutions to The Other Problems, we should note that those Other Problems are becoming noticed by regulators and legislatures.
   
  For example, the Great State of Idaho has just adopted regulations for the "ammonia" problem.
   
  Most of the states that once welcomed the CAFL's are now having to address the phosphorous overloading problem, and all of TOP's
   
  Heavens..., even the State of California is now addressing the "bouquet" problems IN their wineries -- no, not in the wine -- but coming out of the fermenting tanks.
   
  But, you gotta love this...
  two different scientist in the US have determined that by changing what we put INTO chickens and cows..., we can change what we get back out of them.
  You are what you eat..., and you also smell like what you eat...!
   
  Their focus was of course to eliminate the odors from the manure.
  Ours is how to maximize the methane/energy/income from AD...
  and how to minimize the gasses/metals/solids/pathogens.
   
  What we are discovering is, is it not, truly fascinating.
   
  Please, let us know more..., asap.
   
   
   
   
   
   

 		
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