Swedish biogas tour

Swedish biogas tour provides glimpse into methane to natural gas process

Source: Western United Dairymen Weekly News Update July 23, 2004

The Swedish biogas industry provided a hands-on learning experience for a recent touring group of California dairy and bio-energy experts interested in learning how to capture and clean the methane that rises from manure lagoons on California dairies, creating a renewable source of natural gas.

The eight-person delegation is the nucleus of a group studying how to create renewable methane cow manure. The group is funded by a $300,000 grant from the USDA Rural Development that is being administered by Western United Dairymen. The project is a collaborative effort that draws on some of the most knowledgeable people and organizations in the fields of biogas production, pollution mitigation, transportation, and renewable energy use.

The year-long project's goal is to examine the technical and financial feasibility of producing renewable methane from dairy biogas as a value-added product for use either on the farm and/or as a substitute for natural gas in the California fuel market.

Sweden has 20 energy plants that utilize a variety of organic wastes - - including source separated household waste, animal manure, food processing wastes and slaughterhouse wastes. The waste materials are anaerobically digested to produce biogas. The biogas is then upgraded by removing the hydrogen sulfide, moisture and Co2, creating a natural gas that is useable as a fuel in motor vehicles.

Centralized anaerobic digester in Linkoping, Sweden.

Biogas fuels a wide variety of vehicles in Sweden and is seen as an economically viable fuel in a country where gasoline prices run around $6 to $7 a gallon, said Allen Dusault of Sustainable Conservation, one of the group who visited biogas production facilities.

“The biogas industry is a thriving proposition in Sweden,” said Dusault. “We met with a wide group of business people, engineers and elected officials who are very enthusiastic about the potential of biogas. They see its practical applications on a day to day basis. The trip provided us with a very good base of knowledge for our study of how we might be able to create a renewable source of fuel from methane.”

                                                                                                                                                                                        Plant in Boras, Sweden upgrades biogas to renewable methane

Members of the group include Dusault; James Boyd, a commissioner with the California Energy Commission; Ken Krich, Sustainable Conservation; John Boesel and Brad Rutledge, Cal Start; Neil Clifton, Inland Empire Utility Agency; Rob Williams, UC Davis; and Dara Salour, RCM Digesters.

• Click here to download the entire 51-page report on the trip (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

• Click here for photogallery of Sweden trip