Project to Turn Poop to Power

Nov 18 - The Bakersfield Californian

A new pipeline project is in the works for Kern County but it won't be transporting fossil fuels.

Bakersfield-based BioEnergy Solutions plans to start construction early next year on a distribution network that will collect methane gas from a cluster of Shafter dairies to be sold to Pacific Gas and Electric for power generation.

The company's technology captures gas from covered manure lagoons, pipes it to a nearby facility for processing to utility standards and then injects it into PG&E's fuel lines.

In addition to converting waste to fuel, the technology will help reduce methane -- a greenhouse gas that's 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide -- and smog-forming emissions released from manure lagoons, local air quality officials said.

"I think this is the future for all dairies," said Ben Goedhart, owner of the Vermeer and Goedhart Dairy in Shafter, one of the dairies participating in the project. "The waste is energy, and if it can be captured and economically used, it's the way to go.

"And it will keep the air so much cleaner, too."

Three Shafter dairies, with a combined 6,500 milk cows, have contracted to supply their gas so far. In addition to Goedhart's, the two others are C&R Vanderham and Whiteside dairies.

BioEnergy Solutions President David Albers says the company is in talks with six more in the area that could tie in to the same system. If they do, the nine-farm network would include 26,700 milk cows, or almost 20 percent of the county's dairy herd.

BioEnergy Solutions launched its first system in March at Albers' Vintage Dairy in Fresno County. But the local project is unique because it's the first to network gas collection among several dairies, Albers said.

At full buildout, the underground pipeline transporting methane from the farms to a central processing facility on Goedhart's farm could run 10 miles.

"The business model is to achieve economy of scale," Albers said. "It costs a fortune to move manure but if we lay pipe, we only have to do it once."

The company covers the cost of installing the equipment at each dairy and obtaining permits for the project. It also shares a portion of the profits with dairy owners.

Regional air officials support the company's technology. They say the greatest pollution reductions will come from greenhouse gas reductions, with the removal of methane from the environment.

The reduction of smog-forming pollutants won't be as great. But San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Executive Director Seyed Sadredin, said the agency prefers BioEnergy Solutions projects to other waste-to-energy systems dairies have implemented because BioEnergy's don't produce additional pollution.

Some dairies have opted to use methane to produce their own on-site electricity. Sadredin said the internal combustion engines for power generation emit nitrogen oxides, one of the worst smog-forming pollutants.

While the air district prefers systems like Albers', it's not feasible if the dairy is located too far from a gas pipeline, Sadredin said.

But that doesn't seem to be hampering business for Albers so far. He expects BioEnergy Solutions to install systems at about 100 more dairies over the next few years.

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