Ontario Biogas Operators’ Course

I am currently attending the Ontario Biogas Systems’ Operators Course in St. Cathrines. This course is put together by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (O.M.A.F.R.A) and a small group of biogas experts from Germany.

The participants from O.M.A.F.R.A are: Andrew Barrie, Don Hilborn, Jake Debruyn, Ben Hawkins and Terrence Sauve. The guest speakers include: Micheal Kottner from IBBK (International Biogas and Bioenergy Center of Competence), Erwin Koberle of BIOGASKONTOR koberle, and Birgit Pfeifer of Novatech.

This is a four day course that covers just about everything you need to know before you start to build or operate a biogas facility. It covers topics such as: Safety Rules and Regulations, Principles of Biogas, Monitoring and Record Keeping, Operation, Selling your Electricity and Digestate Management to name a few. The course wraps up with a tour of a working biogas facility.

I would recommend this course to any farmers (not just livestock) or anyone who produces organic waste. If you wish to release, capture and consume the hidden energy locked in your organic waste, anaerobic digestion is the key. I would also recommend this course to any retailers of waste and waste water treatment equipment. Biogas technology is very new to Canada, and as far as i know there aren’t really any retailers of this type of equipment advertising their products to this new growing market. As in our project, the majority of equipment was shipped in from overseas, equipment that can probably also be obtained here in North America. In taking this course you could better understand how to market your products to this new biogas facility construction trend. You could take the lead! Just a thought.

Next Ontario Biogas Operators`Course in Belleville January 26, 2010.

Here`s the link:

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/biogas/prod_course.htm