FEASIBILITY STUDY TO ANALYZE THE ECONOMIC VALUE PROPOSITION AND RELATED MARKETING ATRATEGY FOR A MODULAR, PRESSURIZED ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

• Sponsoring Institution: State Agricultural Experiment Station
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: STATE
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0201655
• Project Start Date: Jul 1, 2004
• Project End Date: Jun 30, 2009
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853

Performing Department
BIOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Non Technical Summary
The original proof of concept test demonstrated positive results, but left many issues regarding system mechanics unanswered. The system design and engineering study will serve as a pre-cursor to this second series of proof of concept laboratory experiments that will provide the research team with a more comprehensive understanding of system mechanics and chemical process flows of the proposed reactor design. The project team will develop a more rigorous understanding of system inputs and outputs associated with the proposed reactor design, ultimately leading to design and development of a commercial prototype. Funding to build and operate a field prototype and the next phase of commercialization for this technology will be the focus of subsequent grant applications to state and federal agencies. The expected results will potentially lead to benefits of: improved economics - reduction in energy costs and/or recurring revenue fuel or energy sales; cost effective sources of renewable energy - reduction in use of fossil fuels; improvements to watersheds - reduction in nutrient loading of soils and groundwater and nuisance odors from land spreading of manure, the traditional disposal method for manure management and sustaining other industries - once operating, these systems may be able to process other waste streams, such as whey from the cheese processing industry.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

10%

Applied

50%

Developmental

40%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
402	5370	2020	100%

Knowledge Area
402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
5370 - Sewage and waste disposal facilities and systems;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;

Keywords

organic waste

anaerobic digestion

economic value

economic feasibility

biogas

fuel sources

renewable resources

natural gas

hydrogen

fuel

marketing

marketing strategies

engineering

process development

equipment development

performance evaluation

systems development

waste utilization

prototypes

food waste

animal waste

sewage

cost effectiveness

Goals / Objectives
The proposed project will serve as a secondary proof-of-concept test for the self-pressurizing, self-purifying anaerobic digester developed and tested initially by William Jewell. The research team will build, operate, and analyze behavior of the digester system, with the goal of providing the supporting data necessary to design a commercial prototype for this technology.

Project Methods
Biogas can be renewably generated from anaerobic digestion of organic matter (food waste, animal & human waste). Dairy farmers, animal processing facilities, and wastewater treatment plants employ this and other processes to stabilize their waste streams and facilitate further processing for disposal or conversion into a usable by-product. Advances in anaerobic digestion technology to date have focused mostly on incremental improvements to systems. Biogas from traditional anaerobic digestion technology is typically produced at atmospheric pressure, with little attempt made to harness this energy source for compressed natural gas (CNG) applications given the mechanical energy required for pressurization. Similarly, application of fuel cells to anaerobic digesters for stationary power generation is currently limited due to system economics and operational challenges with respect to gas purity, which has limited research on catalysts that work with methane. In 1997, Cornell professor William Jewell developed a novel design for producing biogas (i.e., methane) via anaerobic digestion of organic matter using a closed-loop, system. Jewell's design is truly unique as it delivers highly pure (90 percent methane) and compressed biogas (700 psi) without additional equipment and mechanical energy. Existing digester designs achieve only 60 percent methane at atmospheric pressure. In addition to producing a more valuable gas product, Jewell's reactor is modular, facilitating scaling system capacity to accommodate additional incremental increases in organic flows, an approach not common with traditional digester designs. A limited proof of concept study completed by Jewell produced favorable results, indicating potential commercial applications for stationary generation applications (i.e., fuel cells) and for production of compressed natural gas (CNG) for alternative fuel vehicles. In 2000, Professor Norman Scott established the Cow Power project team at Cornell to study the potential for biogas energy conversion on New York State dairy farms, focusing on the feasibility of fuel cells in this environment in terms of technology, farming economics, and public policy. Scott's project team, including the technology licensee, Distributed Generation Technologies, seeks to expand upon theoretical work completed by Jewell and the Cow Power team to date, focusing on evaluating the commercial potential of this new technology, as well as characterizing the positive social returns associated with implementing the technology in the agricultural and wastewater treatment industries worldwide.

Progress 07/01/04 to 06/30/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The work conducted under this project examined approaches to develop a self-pressurizing and self-purifying anaerobic digestion process for methane production from animal manures. The objective was to determine if an experimental method, proposed by Professor William J. Jewell could be commercialized into a system that could produce pure, high-pressure methane with minimum energy input. The results of a set of experiments to develop a reasonable quantity of high-pressure methane through the self-pressurization system employed were discouraging. The actual pressure increase in a self-contained vessel was significantly less by a factor of 5-10 of what was predicted. Results from several experimental trials were unimpressive in developing a high-pressure and pure quantity of methane gas and we have concluded that our approach would not be economically feasible and therefore not commercially viable. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Our initial hope in undertaking this project was to develop a self-pressurizing, self-purifying process for generating methane within a self-contained vessel during anaerobic digestion and, if successful, would have had significant economic value as a way to develop an alternative renewable fuel to natural gas from animal manures and food wastes. From the our exeriments, the results were discouraging and clearly not likely to yield an economically commercial system. Therefore these results led us to the decision to discontinue this research effort.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 10/01/07 to 09/30/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: None during the period PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The results suggest that the concept is not a feasible approach to developing a clean compressed methane supply without mechanical energy.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/07

Outputs
The objective of the project was to examine the methods of self-presurizing and self-purifying methane production in a modular, pressurized anaerobic digestion system. It was also the purpose to determine if an experimental method proposed by Professor William J. Jewell (Cornell University)could be commerialized into a system that could produce pure, high-pressure methane with minimal energy input. The results of our attempt to develop a reasonable quantity of high pressure methane through a self-pressurization system were unimpressive. The actual pressure buildup in the self-contained vessel was greatly less than predicted (by factors of 5-10). Similar results from several experimental trials led to a decision to discontinue the effort.

Impacts
The initial hope that one could develop a system for self-pressurizing, self-purifying methane during anaerobic digestion would have had significant economic value as a way to develop an alternative to natural gas from animal and food wastes. At least, in our work, as it was conducted, the results were not encouraging as a viable approach to produce high pressure and pure methane. The research has been discontinued due to a lack of a realistic and viable production of methane. The only outcome is that a simple self-contained system proved unsatisfactory in meeting our basic objectives.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05

Outputs
This research project has examined a method of self-pressurizing and self-purifying methane production using anaerobic digestion. If successful, methane from the anaerobic digester can be purified to a high degree and compressed to a high pressure through a production process using little or no additional energy input. Specific objectives of this research are:1)to examine the impact of high pressure on the anaerobic digestion process and biogas production, 2)to determine if fast pressure changes have a significant impact on the anaerobic digestion process and biogas production, 3)to prove or disprove the merits of a self-pressurizing and self purifying anaerobic digestion system and 4)to analyze system design options for future applications. From four experiments using relatively small vessels for confined reactors,we can conclude that anaerobic digestion (one time loading)will develop a pressurized biogas. The biogas pressure developed slowly over a time period of 20-30 days to a value of 40 - 180 psi depending on the specific cyclinder size and quantity of dairy manure placed in the reactor. Biogas production varied from 11.6 l/kg of total solids (TS) to 22.7 l/kg TS. Future experiments will involve the regular and periodic addition of manure to the a confined pressure vessel as well as attention to the control of the pH to determine if one can reach the desired pressures greater than 2000 psi.

Impacts
The results of the research to date show that considerable additional experiments need to be conducted before the proof of concept is verified. While one can produce biogas within a confined reactor to reach high pressures the time is lengthy and the pressure relatively low (less than 200 psi). It is too early to know whether the proof-of-concept of creating a purified methane at high pressure from manure can be accomplished technically, let alone economically.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04

Outputs
The project is new and is only getting started.To date work has focused on the market opportunities within the agriculture and wastewater sectors and recently has explored options for commercialization of this technology in the food processing industry. On the technical side, design configurations for the experimental apparatus have been pursued on how the technique would be applied within the various market niches. Presently work is directed to designing, building, and operating the experimental apparatus for the system simplistically. Once we have results from a series of experimental runs, and additional market intelligence, we will focus on modifying the commercialization plan and applying for additional research funding to build a commercial prototype.

Impacts
The results of this project, in conjunction with an extensive secondary proof-of-concept study, will provide information about market dynamics necessary to quantify the economic value proposition for stationary energy generation and transportation fuel applications of this technology.

Publications

• No publications reported this period