Biogas and resource recovery solutions

Abbotsford, BC – October 15th, 2020. Biogas is an exciting opportunity to ensure future dairy profitability while reducing GHG emissions. The demand for energy from renewable resources has grown exponentially over the last years. The good news: dairy cow manure is a great source for the production of this sustainable energy product. If you are new to biogas, let’s walk through some of the key facts and see how Trident fits into the biogas picture.

WHAT IS BIOGAS AND RENEWABLE NATURAL GAS (RNG)?
Biogas is a product of decomposing organic material. Biogas can come from many sources including agricultural waste, food waste, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. The gas can be burned for electricity or converted into a transportation fuel. If used for a transportation fuel, biogas must go through a cleaning process to remove impurities. The end product of which is 98% methane, is Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). The EPA provides more in-depth information on their website.

HOW IT WORKS ON FARM
Cow manure enters the Anaerobic Digester and breaks down for 2-4 weeks producing biogas. This raw biogas is cleaned by the Gas Upgrading Skid or “GUS”. Renewable natural gas (RNG) comes out the other side and is sent down a pipeline where it is compressed at the utility receipt point.

THE DIGESTATE
The effluent from the anaerobic digestion process is called digestate. The digestate usually undergoes additional treatment steps to ensure that the remaining GHG emission potential is effectively reduced.  The treatment consists of several solid- liquid separation stages that create streams of clarified water and concentrated solids.

THE DAIRY RNG VALUE PROPOSITION
Dairy manure converted into renewable natural gas (RNG) for use as a transportation fuel increases farm revenue in two ways:
1. Value environmental credits for methane emission avoidance
2. Commodity value of natural gas

As a global leader in the production of recycled water from agricultural waste streams, Trident Processes offers the widest range of resource recovery solutions for regenerative agriculture. We help our clients take advantage of new technologies and assist them throughout all project stages.

Image: A plug-flow digester on a dairy farm that processes digestate to concentrated nutrient cake and clean recycling water.

THE DAIRY DIGESTER
Trident’s ability to provide a turnkey biogas and resource recovery solution sets us apart from other energy development companies, helping our clients realize the full potential of both renewable energy and waste management. Trident offers the entire development, engineering, finance and construction of waste treatment and waste to energy related infrastructure.

OTHER BENEFITS OF NUTRIENT RECOVERY TREATMENT
Aside from the boost in operational efficiency due to optimized waste handling and storage, there are other benefits. The significant reduction of fine solids in the lagoon results in substantial GHG emission reduction. A 2020 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada study measured methane potential of < 0ml CH4/g VS after the Trident nutrient recovery treatment.

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
Renewable biogas and its related end products fit well with some of the most disruptive technological developments. Electricity converted from RNG is of high strategic importance, in particular for the transportation sector.