Operators Course Day 1

First off everybody was given a chance to introduce themselves and give a little background information. I found that you don’t only learn from the different presenters but all the different people attending share their knowledge as well.

The first presentation from O.M.A.F.R.A. is an introduction to biogas. It states some of the reasons for wanting to put up a biogas facility. They include: odour reduction, pathogen reduction, reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, produce renewable energy, manage society’s waste, utilize food byproducts, improve fertilizer value of manure and new revenue on farm.

They also explain the new Green Energy and Green Economy Act, which was set in place to streamline approvals for renewable energy projects among other things. The reason behind this being, the easier and faster it is to gain approval for a renewable energy project, the more likely you are to boost the economy through the number new jobs created in building and maintaining these facilities. The new Feed-In Tariff (FIT) contract that the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) and Ontario Power Authority (OPA) created to replace the old Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP) was explained. More info:

http://fit.powerauthority.on.ca/

They also gave a brief history on biogas generation in Ontario and North America. Information was given on a program set in place by OMAFRA called Ontario Biogas Financial Assistance Program. The purpose of this program was to grant money in 2 phases to the people building biogas facilities, because biogas facilities are costly to build, people were not pursuing the idea. Conducting a costly yet necessary feasibility study is the first phase in building a biogas plant. This Program offered to pay 70% of the cost with a maximum of $35,000.00. If you project was `feasible` you move on to phase 2: Biogas System Construction and Implementation. Phase 2 offered to pay 40% of construction costs to maximum of $400,000.00. All these funds have been spent but we were lucky enough to take part in this government funded assistance program. More info:

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

Micheal Kottner gave a presentation of the technology behind biogas. He explains there are 2 main types of digester systems: wet fermentation (max 13% VS) and dry fermentation (max 50% VS) VS= volatile solids (biodegradable material). There are many different ways to build wet fermenters or `liquid digesters`, and they`re still coming up with new better designs. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the 10 most popular styles. As for Dry fermenters, there are 2 main types: horizontal digester and garage style digesters.

Horizontal Digesters

Horizontal Digester