Projects - New World Dairy
Location: St. Davids
Funding Amount: $990,000
Sector: Alternative Energy
Current Status: In Progress
Estimate GHG reduction Potential: 11,090 tonnes of GHG (CO2 equivalents)
Project Summary:
With assistance of $990,000 from the Newfoundland and Labrador Green Fund, New World Dairy Inc. of St. David’s will install an anaerobic digester and the necessary equipment to operate a methane gas capture and utilization system. These measures will allow the dairy farm to create a waste management solution for their manure, produce enough heat and electricity to operate their facility and produce a product that can be used as bedding for the cows. The total cost of this project is $3.6 million.
This project demonstrates how we can take a waste product, convert it to an energy source and also have by-products that can be fully utilized. This new system will lessen the environmental and economic costs associated with trucking manure to distant fields, reduce odour that accompanies trucking and spreading manure, and increase the nutrient value of the fertilizer.
An anaerobic digester is an enclosed container that excludes oxygen from the system. A number of naturally occurring bacteria break the manure down into a variety of gases, including methane and carbon dioxide. The gas that is released during the breakdown process is captured and burned, which can be used as an energy source. This process of combusting methane produces a substantial reduction in GHGs. Methane is twenty-one times more potent a GHG than carbon dioxide which is the product of the combustion. Additionally, the manure that is processed during anaerobic digestion produces a solid which is ideal bedding material for dairy cows and a nutrient laden liquid that can be used as fertilizer.
Through the capture and combustion of the methane gas that is generated during the digestion process, enough electricity and heat could be produced to provide for the farming facility. This will eliminate the need for 41,000 litres of furnace oil per year.
The project will provide clean energy to run the farm, less compaction of soil in the fields from heavy trucks that haul manure, as well as a bedding product that is beneficial for the animals.
