Links
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Key Websites - Canadian
Manurenet: http://res2.agr.ca/initiatives/manurenet/manurenet_en.html
Key Websites – International
AGSTAR (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Energy program to encourage the use of biogas): http://www.epa.gov/agstar/index.html
Midwest Rural Energy Council: http://www.mrec.org/anaerobicdigestion.html
Renewable Energy Association (British): http://www.r-p-a.org.uk/home.fcm
Swiss Biogas Forum: http://www.biogas.ch/overview.htm
Canadian Technology Providers
Genysis BioGas, Ottawa
www.kellerengineering.com, Benjamin Strehler, 613-224-1594
Rentec Renewable Energy Technologies Inc., Peterborough
www.rentec.ca, 519-913-0065, 416-850-4427
BioTerre Systems Inc., Sherbrooke
www.bioterre.com, Richard Royer, 819-567-3871 (ext. 2256)
Clear Green, Saskatoon
www.clear-green.com, Rick Valette, 306-931-3810
Highmark Renewables Inc., Vegreville Alberta
www.highmark.ca, Mike Kotelko 780-768-2466, Xiao-Mei Li 780-450-5290
ECB Enviro North America, Fort MacLeod
www.ecbna.com, Thane Hurlbert, 403-553-4255
ECB Enviro also offers a pre-treatment technology (thermo-hydrolysis) for processing of specified risk materials so that they can be used for feedstock, www.biorefinex.com
Comments and recommendations
At present, the economics of on-farm digesters in Canada are uncertain. In Europe, where on-farm anaerobic digestion has been widely adopted, significant incentives are in place for which there are no equivalents in Canada . Therefore, the success of the European industry, while providing the commercial base to further the development of anaerobic digestion technology, cannot be seen as necessarily indicative of future Canadian success. Even in Ontario , where the provincial Standard Offer Program now guarantees a long-term purchase price for electricity generated through anaerobic digestion, the enhanced price of 11 cents per kWh is not seen as sufficient to generate attractive economic returns in the majority of cases. The lack of successful Canadian case studies points to the difficulties currently faced by agricultural anaerobic digester proponents.
In the current climate, an on-farm anaerobic digester makes sense when there are other, non-economic factors at play – primarily the need to effectively treat manure to meet increasingly strict regulatory requirements. Other factors may include community pressure regarding manure management and odour control, or the desire to make a positive environmental contribution.
To maximize the potential economic returns of an anaerobic digester operation, the inclusion of off-farm feedstocks should be seriously considered (to the extent that regulations allow). Many of the successful US on-farm anaerobic digesters were initially designed to use a blend of on-farm and off-farm feedstocks.
As a final note, anaerobic digestion is a complex process. It requires knowledge, consistency, and dedicated operator time if success is to be achieved.
Modified: 03-31-2008
