News

Report encourages broader adoption of anaerobic digesters across agriculture

A new report indicates farms of all sizes could capitalize on anaerobic digestion.

Brad Matuska with Minnesota’s Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) says while the technology is well established, there remains a lot of misunderstanding.

“Anaerobic digesters are taking all kinds of organic materials and decomposing them in the absence of oxygen, which produces biogas. And then biogas can be cleaned up to be used as a drop-in fuel to replace fossil natural gas, or it can be run through engines to create electricity and heat.”

Anaerobic digestion is a biological process where micro-organisms break down organic matter, like food waste and manure, to produce biogas and a nutrient-rich liquid or solid called digestate.

He tells Brownfield AURI recently released The Biogas Opportunity for Minnesota Farmers: A Business Guide for On-Farm Anaerobic Digestion, which gives farmers a business roadmap on how to add value to their farm.

“As the industry continues to grow and technologies change and the markets change, it’s important to look at each individual opportunity that each farm can potentially participate in in this industry.”

Matuska says the study not only showed another potential revenue stream for farmers, but an opportunity for Minnesota industries to potentially meet over 13 percent of the state’s natural gas demand through anaerobic digestion.