A Superior Value: A Workshop in Anerobic Digestion

October 11, 2018

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by Bill Keba* (Advanced Biofuels USA) October 2, 2018, Annapolis, Maryland. Inside the Doubletree Inn, it was as hectic as the traffic on Route 50. Eightyfive paid attendees were gathering, registering, networking, and hurriedly settling in for the 9:15 start of this workshop titled Opportunities and Challenges in Anaerobic Digestion: Maryland and the Northeast US Experience

I’m going to begin at the end: When the workshop had ended, I was awestruck by the educational value received, the professional quality of each speaker presenting in his or her area of expertise, and the knowledge and experiences shared by the presenters who are educators, regulators, farmers, project developers, and the American Biogas Council.

Gary Felton’s deep assured voice opened the meeting with the typical housekeeping rules, introducing Stephanie Lansing. She led the meeting, introduced the speakers, moderated the Q and A sessions, and was a presenter herself. She was assisted by numerous graduate students and one post doc.

The speakers kept to the allotted time. Quite an accomplishment with so much to say. The team used technology to assess the attendees’ pre-workshop expectations generating on-screen word clouds from the one-word responses. On the printed agenda were two QR codes: take a snapshot with your smartphone and be instantly connected to surveys and meeting evaluations. What a wonderful -time-saver. Also included were flash drives loaded with the presentation information and other studies. Talk about bang for your buck; 35 bucks, actually; hence the Superior Value title.

Time and space don’t permit a fair summary of each presentation. I’ll give the highlights. You’ll have to attend the next session.

EPA's AgStar

The first speaker was Chris Voell of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AgStar program. He described himself as a central hub, a connector of people to information. The program promotes the use of biogas recovery systems to reduce methane emissions.

Voell stated three major challenges to the use of anaerobic digestion:

Low milk prices,
Low energy prices, and
Market uncertainties and
Policy uncertainties.

He called for continuing innovation.

New York and Denmark Models

Curt Gooch, a consulting engineer who works with the Cornell University Extension talked about the challenges and opportunities on some farms in New York. (Curt’s talk was so interesting I had a hard time taking notes.)

He also talked about his visit to Denmark, which he thought led the world in anaerobic digestion. As an engineer, he always looks at the system boundaries. Could or should an AD include several farms? Be operated by a third party? He proposed that the social cost of greenhouse gases could be about $45 per ton.

Federal Biogas Policy, Legislation

Patrick Serfass of the American Biogas Council spoke of federal biogas policy and related issues saying, it represented just “...the tip of the iceberg of federal policy. He thinks the three biggest challenges to AD are:

No or restricted access to gas pipelines.
The length of time to obtain permits.
Access to low cost financing.

He spoke about the Farm Bill and that funding associated with it should be mandatory.

The audience expressed great appreciation when he talked about the bills in Congress, HR 4137 and HR 2843, that “address inequities in the tax code. “ The biogas industry wants tax credit parity.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Environmental Quality Incentives Program

Jeff Porter of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service talked about the programs, services, financial, and technical services available.

Noteworthy is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) It is designed to help farmers address concerns with natural resources while delivering environmental benefits, i.e. reducing erosion, habitat etc. There is a comprehensive 9-step planning process including a comprehensive nutrient management plan. In certain programs there is up to $900,000 available in a 75% cost share.

There is also a competitive program called Conservation Innovation Grants. Authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill, it supports next-generation conservation efforts that drive environmental benefits.

Opportunities for Growth and Financial Incentives

Gary Felton’s talk was titled "Opportunities for Growth and Financial Incentives in the Northeast / Mid-Atlantic."

Maryland’s Department of Agriculture has a program titled the Animal Waste Technology Fund with up to $2 million available to renewable energy from animal waste projects.

Maryland’s Energy Administration has made up to $6 million available in the Animal Waste to Energy Grant Program focused on two areas of interest: on-farm/pilot scale with a 40% cost share and a community/regional scale with a 50% cost share. On-farm projects up to 2 MW are covered and over 2 MW for community-based projects.

Felton also spoke about some of the programs available in New York and Vermont. He wrapped up by wishing there was a one-stop shop; a simple way to weave all these programs together.

Chris Voell, during the Q and A session, added that Denmark has a better integration of entities. He is referring to overlapping programs being available in nearly every governmental division: Agriculture, Energy, Revenue, and Treasury.

Dwight Dotterer from the Maryland Department of Agriculture spoke over lunch about nutrient management and the Chesapeake Bay. He handled this hot topic with grace, unfortunately to a ravenous chattering audience.

German AD

Stephanie Lansing returned to the podium as a presenter this time. She is a very clear and deliberate speaker who earns high audience engagement. She discussed the differences between the German and US AD systems. Primarily the Germans want to maximize gas production and put the entire corn product in the digester. They are focused on energy independence knowing the concentration risk they fear from their Russian suppliers.

She also talked about the impending landfill bans in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont questioning where it will go. They aren’t ready.

Gas Clean-Up Pros and Cons

Curt Gooch presented for a second time. This time on the uses of biogas: scrubbing, RNG, generator sets and the uses of the excess heat. This talk was a little more technical that I care to write about. My attempt at a summary is thus: Gases created from different sources and methods will have different chemical characteristics. The good, bad, and ugly: There is a clean-up method for all gases, but the cost may not be worth it.

In some cases, just using a simple engine generator that is tolerant of sulfur and rebuilding it every year may yield the most benefit.

Antibiotic Resistance

Stephanie Lansing and David Lansing gave a joint presentation on antibiotic resistance. There were quite a few talking points. Jumping out at me was the potential and dangers of gene exchanging between resistant and non-resistant bacteria

She closed the speaking portion of this presentation with a question: Will Anaerobic Digestion become more important in stopping antibiotic resistance? You’ll have to wait to hear the answer.

Personal Experiences with AD

The workshop ended with a panel discussion by four participants who have experience with anaerobic digesters: Bret Reinford of Reinford Farms in Mifflintown, PA ; Andrew Moss of Planet Found Energy Development, Pocomoke City, MD; Bill Kilby of Kilby Farms; and Peter Ettinger, Director of Marketing for BTS-Biogas Americas. They shared parts of their experiences with anaerobic digesters. Mr. Ettinger talked about his company’s world-wide experience and the project at the Maryland Food Center.

Reinford and Kilby reiterated that someone had to “own” the workings of the system because things go wrong day/night/24/7/365. Third party operators may be part of the answer. At times it is difficult to run the farm and the AD.

They hoped for an electric pathway in the Renewable Fuel Standard and for Nutrient Trading Programs.

There are endless variations in feedstocks, systems, and conditions. Projects are complicated by confusing and overlapping layers of policy, oversight, expensive financing and poor economics. All these things must be fully vetted. One speaker said, “ We cannot put all the risk on the backs of the individual farmers. You’ll surely see anaerobic digestion go nowhere. ”

Kudos to Gary Felton, Stephanie Lansing and their teams for a truly magnificent workshop.

*Bill Keba, an executive in transition to the renewable energy sector, is serving as a volunteer correspondent for Advanced Biofuels USA.

Photos by B Keba except those with ** by Dr. Amro Hassanein