Making alternative energy production cost effective in commercial
Livestock operations have long faced challenges related to manure and process water management. The agricultural industry has focused on odor control and protecting environmental quality for many years, but awareness of agribusiness’ contribution to greenhouse gasses and climate change has fueled new developments to curb the emission of methane. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that in the US alone, livestock manure emits about 2 million tons of methane, accounting for approximately 8 percent of the annual anthropogenic methane emissions in the US. To curb greenhouse gas emissions, many national, regional, state and local governments throughout the US, South America, China, and Europe have developed regulations and incentives to promote development of biogas facilities.
The anaerobic digestion and biogas recovery systems offer multiple benefits in addition to odor control, methane recovery and production of usable energy. The stabilized effluent has enhanced value as fertilizer over raw manure due to increased availability of nutrients, particularly nitrogen. Solids produced have value as soil amendments, potting soil or compost.
Biogas recovery systems consist of an anaerobic digester and biogas collection system. It may also include a combustion system to burn the biogas on site to produce heat, electricity or hot water. Methane content in biogas can range from 50 to 80 percent, making biogas a clean burning fuel. For most livestock producers, on site biogas use offsets other energy uses, lowering operating costs. Other larger scale producers are selling the energy, either through connection to a natural gas grid, or by generating electricity to connect to the electrical grid.
Xylem pumps and mixers lowers costs and increases reliability
Digester mixing maintains homogeneity of the fluid, evenly distributes the bacteria, maintains uniform temperature conditions and prevents the formation of thermal and density layers to maximize biogas production. Conditions inside an anaerobic digester or fermenter are harsh. Flygt submersible mixers are rugged, built to withstand harsh environments and provide years of reliable service at the lowest possible life cycle costs.
Xylem’s Flygt low speed mixers are ideally suited for digester conditions, combining large diameters with slow speeds to generate maximum thrust with minimum energy consumption. With multiple models available, Xylem’s hydraulic engineers can tailor a system for the properties of the material (percent solids) and the size and shape of the tank, to ensure complete, effective and energy efficient mixing.
Xylem also has Flygt pumping systems and mixers for other stages of manure management. From transferring manures from barns to storage units, or mixing final storage tanks, or pumping out to application trucks, Xylem has a reliable pump or mixer that will meet the system requirements.
From barn or feedlot, to digester to storage to field, Xylem’s Flygt pumps and mixers help livestock producers manage manure safely and cost effectively. Protecting the environment, lowering operating costs, simplifying manure management – that’s the Xylem difference.
