WSU students earn hands on experience with anaerobic digestion

Washington State University students are about to get some hands on experience when it comes to waste management. The university is working with staff from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on research that takes waste-to-energy study to a new level.

Birgitte K. Ahring, director of the WSU Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy, talks with graduate students who are based at WSU Tri-Cities.

According to a story that appeared in wastemanagementworld.com, the program was made possible by a $225,000 donation from Easterday Ranches and Easterday Farms. It’s focused on ways to turn organic and agricultural waste into bioenergy. The research is currently being conducted by WSU’s Bioproducts Sciences and Engineering Laboratory.

BSEL opened in spring 2008 with staff from the university and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducting research and helping give students a hands-on education. A key part of the original vision for the lab has been to move research from the lab to commercial use.
To do that, the lab has needed a biomass pretreatment system to use as a pilot plant, Ahring said. She worked with other BSEL staff to design the $575,000 system, and it was assembled by Vista Engineering Technologies in Richland.

“This equipment allows us to vary the conditions and evaluate different biomass feedstocks, so we can find the optimal conditions for degrading the material into valuable products,” said Birgitte K. Ahring, director of the WSU Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy and the Battelle Distinguished Professor. “This advanced pretreatment process is more cost-efficient than traditional methods, making it more viable to use biomass to develop biofuels and bioproducts.”

The donation will be spread out over three years and focuses on the anaerobic digestion process of waste, using cattle manure and onion culls to produce energy. The goal is to replace the use of diesel and propane which is currently relied upon for energy.

What are your thoughts about this project? Please share them in our comments section.

This post is brought to you by Harvest Power. Follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook.

Harvest Power to speak at Ignite Portland Sept. 23

Meredith Sorensen

If you had 5 minutes on stage, what would you say? What if you had 20 slides that automatically rotated after 15 seconds each – and weren’t allowed  note cards?

That’s the format for Ignite Portland an event expected to draw 600 people to Bagdad Theatre on Sept. 23. Ignite is a global initiative that draws entrepreneurs, business professionals and passionate people from all industries to share their backgrounds in a fun, fast-paced setting that encourages networking and sparks new ideas.

For Meredith Sorensen, outreach manager at Harvest Power, the answer was simple. She’s going to present “Powered by Banana Peels” – a topic that blends compost and renewable energy, two subjects sure to get Portland’s savvy audience stirred up.

Sorensen has presented at Ignite Portland previously – in 2008 – and is pleased to return, and to speak  on behalf of Harvest Power.

Though she lives and works in Portland, the company itself is based in Massachusetts and collaborates on projects across North America. Sorensen said Harvest Power looks forward to more speaking opportunities across the U.S.

Here’s a brief description of what to expect at Ignite Portland:

Most people are hip to the concept of composting: You take apple cores, banana peels, and leaves, put them all together and poof! Nature recycles the organic material into a nutrient rich soil amendment known as compost.

Welcome to the next frontier of organic recycling: anaerobic digestion. It happens in cows. It happens in landfills. It could soon turn your banana peel into renewable energy (and compost).

This presentation will go over the basics of biogas production through the anaerobic digestion of organic waste.

• When: Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and talks begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 23, 2010
• Where: Bagdad Theatre, 3702 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland
• Admission: Free

This post is brought to you by Harvest Power. Follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook.

Farmers in Africa embrace biogas, alternative energy

The clean-tech story takes a personal spin in this week’s BusinessDailyAfrica.com. Reporter David Mugwe weaves a vivid tale in Petroleum price rally spurs search for clean energy.

In it, he introduces readers to dairy farmers like James Mungai, who are using alternative energy sources  as fuel.

Companies that make biogas cookers like this one are doing business in Africa. Photo by Jennifer Muiruri | BusinessDailyAfrica.com

In Nairobi, a biogas digester is replacing the gas stove. It’s a means to combat rising prices for charcoal and kerosene, diesel and petroleum, as global demand grows. According to the article, Kenya faces a similar problem:

Experts estimate that over two million tonnes of charcoal are consumed in Kenya annually while the Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) says over 80 per cent of urban and 50 per cent of rural dwellers use the fuel to cook.

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) estimated biomass energy supply at 15.4 million tonnes against demand of over 38.1 million tonnes in 2004, reflecting a deficit of about 60 per cent. Experts estimate that over two million tonnes of charcoal are consumed in Kenya annually while the Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) says over 80 per cent of urban and 50 per cent of rural dwellers use the fuel to cook.

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) estimated biomass energy supply at 15.4 million tonnes against demand of over 38.1 million tonnes in 2004, reflecting a deficit of about 60 per cent.

The main reason for increased demand “is the continued awareness of alternative and environment friendly energy technologies. The dwindling sources of fuel-wood and increased cost of energy sources are also major reasons,” says Kenda Mwenja, biogas expert.

The GTZ-PSDA project introduced subsidy grants for biogas plants for rural people.

“After introduction of the subsidy demand has gone up. We now receive more than 30 enquiries and applications per month. Farmers involved in dairy farming see an opportunity to increase value of their dairy farming. To some extent biogas adds some status to adopting farmers,” says Mr Mwenja.

“Initial investment is high, but benefits accrue for a long period of time and are not easily noticed. Analysis of a biogas plant in 2009 showed that smallholder farmers with three to eight cows save between Sh3,000 and Sh5,000 per month on energy,” he says.

Mr Jesse says that two to three cows can service a plant of four cubic metres, which costs about Sh50,000 to construct.

“The principle behind biogas is based on conversion of waste to energy. The only cost that goes into it is construction cost. It has minimum to zero operational or maintenance costs making it a free energy source in the long run,” he says.

Next Page »