CTV Atlantic
Published Friday, June 27, 2014 6:43PM ADT

Two dairy farmers in Shubenacadie, N.S. are producing more than just milk.

Derek Mostert and Richard Metcalfe are harnessing the power of cow poop. They run the only biogas dairy farm in the Maritimes - putting the farmers on the front end of a back-end product.

“We have about 350 cattle altogether and produce probably 30 tonnes of waste a day,” says farm owner Derek Mostert.

Every hour, cows from Windmill Holsteins produce 500 kilowatts of electricity, all from their waste.

“When we first started doing this we were told it couldn’t be done,” says biogas co-ordinator Richard Metcalfe. “I think people were afraid to be the first one.”

Mostert first got the idea of a biogas plant after his parents, who are also farmers, went on a trip to India and saw how the waste of cows there could heat water.

“I figured if they could do that with six cows and so little technology, what can be done here in North America with all the potential we have here,” says Mostert.

Mostert decided to team up with Metcalfe, who spent the next nine months researching biogas technology.

“So he said, ‘find me a biogas company that you think is worthwhile and we’ll build biogas,” says Metcalfe.

It took two years of paperwork, one year of construction, and $3 million to build their biogas plant.

“This will increase the efficiency of our farm dramatically…we have no waste anymore,” says Mostert.

Biogas is methane produced from manure. The technology of the biogas plant was perfected in Germany where, for years, they have capitalized on methane-rich dung. But using cow waste to produce energy has never before been successful in the Maritimes before.

“A lot of the trouble is, people have tried to build their own, and I said to Derek, ‘what’s the point? Reinvent the wheel, when in Germany they’ve already perfected it,’” says Metcalfe.

This process works like this; a machine scrapes the cow droppings six times a day and transfers it into a tank. The tank heats up the waste to 40 degrees Celsius and then it is transferred to three other tanks where the methane gas is collected. From there, it is cooled and filtered before going into a generator.

From the generator, electricity flows through the power lines, providing power for 250 homes in the Shubenacadie area.

Besides being on the grid, the biogas plant also heats up the family home and saves waste from being dumped into their backyard lagoon, which can create some unfavourable smells.

The farm also gets 17.5 cents a kilowatt back for providing clean energy.

“The revenue will make it easier for our sons to come on the farm and stay here. It’s a form of expansion,” says Mostert.

He says that expansion is providing their family business with security and endless energy for the future.

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/power-of-poo ... -1.1890013

How not to do it. In our neighborhood.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ ... 8e666.html

The (nearby)spill-plagued Clear Horizons manure processing plant ...is now facing nearly 90 alleged air pollution violations on top of a slate of water pollution problems regulators want a judge to remedy.

The plant’s electrical generators are belching excessive amounts of toxic formaldehyde and acid-rain inducing sulfur dioxide, according to a notice of violations dated Wednesday and released Friday by the state Department of Natural Resources.

Operators also have failed to promptly notify the state about excessive emissions, didn’t sufficiently test generator exhaust, neglected to seek air pollution permits for other machinery and didn’t comply with requirements for annual reports in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the DNR said.

The air pollution problems come on the heels of three spills of more than 400,000 gallons of dairy manure over the past 12 months and findings that the biodigester isn’t removing enough nutrients from manure that is spread on farm fields.

State regulators this month asked the state Department of Justice to take court action against Clear Horizons related to the alleged water pollution violations at the plant, which was built in 2010 for $12 million including tax subsidies. The plant is designed to generate sustainable energy while keeping manure-borne nutrients from fouling the lakes.

The state can levy fines of up to $1,000 a day for violations, or close the plant .

The Milwaukee-based company will have an opportunity to respond to the air pollution notice and make changes before the DNR will consider sending the allegations to DOJ for enforcement action.

Jim Ditter, CEO of Clear Horizons owner PPC Partners, couldn’t be reached Friday.

After the DNR referred the water violations for enforcement, Ditter said the company was confident in the steps it has taken to bring the plant into compliance, but he declined to provide details.

The Clear Horizons facility at 6321 Cuba Valley Road in the town of Vienna has three, 1.25-million-gallon tanks that hold manure piped in from three dairy farms. Gases from the manure are collected and burned in generators to create electricity, which is sold to a power company.

The plant was designed to extract most of the phosphorus from the manure before sending it back to the farms to be spread on fields.

Phosphorus runoff from farm fields is the major cause of foul-smelling weed and algae growth in Dane County’s lakes. Manure runoff and spills can also deliver harmful bacteria to surface water.

DNR officials weren’t available to discuss the new air pollution allegations.

The notice of violations alleges that the plant exceeded limits for hydrogen sulfide in the gas it collected from manure 43 times in 2013. Burning hydrogen sulfide produces sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain.

The plant’s 2013 air monitoring report shows hydrogen sulfide concentrations were within limits in only six or seven of 50 tests. In 17 tests, the concentration was nearly 38,000 parts per million, which is more than 100 times the allowed maximum.

The notice also alleges Clear Horizons failed to:

• Report the excess emissions and corrective steps on the next business day.

• Test generator engines for excess formaldehyde exhausñt.

• Seek an emissions permit for fiber drying and ammonia condensing equipment, despite being told to do so during a June 27, 2012, inspection.

• Pay annual fees and comply with the law requiring annual air emission reporting.



Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/envi ... z3KV9Hq7iD

The Milwaukee-based company will have an opportunity to respond to the air pollution notice and make changes before the DNR will consider sending the allegations to DOJ for enforcement action.

There's the real problem... "enforcers" not "enforcing".

About 7960 Bio gas installations in Germany 2014.
Just saying...

North America is sucking the hind tit as we have been for the past 3-4 decades.

Prison in Jefferson City MO uses methane gas for energy Have for years. Yuk

Minor "yuk" compared to drinking it after it leaches into our water.

Why Yuk?????

Without poo the world wouldn't work. Every atom in your body has at some stage in its history been manure.

why do you post these shitty stories, oskar?

Was in a crappy mood?

What leeches into the ground water is much, much different that what is ultimately used as fertilizer and can be dangerous. Bacteria, undigested pharmaceuticals and other things would be in leeched raw sewage.