Muck to Money: Unraveling Anaerobic Digesters on Dairy Farms
Anaerobic digesters turn manure and other organic waste products into biogas and “digestate,” a nutrient-rich product that farmers can use to add nutrients to fields.
Digesters get a lot of hype, but how do they work? And when are they economical choices for dairy farms to install?
Listen in as Lauren Ray, an agricultural sustainability and energy engineer at Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY, walks us through how digesters work and when they break even for farms that install them. As a bonus, she’ll also describe the top things you should ask if you’re thinking about working with a developer to install a digester.
Dig deeper for more resources about enteric methane, including the fact sheets from Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY that Lauren mentions in the episode.
- “Considerations for central anaerobic digestion of manure from multiple dairy farms” by Angela, Jason, and Ray, 2023.
- “Centralized Systems for Anaerobic Digestion to Renewable Natural Gas” by Angele and Ray, 2022.
- “Anaerobic Digester/Biogas System Operator Guidebook” by United States Environmental Protection Agency.
If you like this episode, keep an eye out for more content in our series on dairy sustainability, brought to you with the generous support of Dairy Management, Inc.
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