Ohio’s newly identified Advanced Renewable Energy Standard requires that 25% of the state’s energy supply will come from advanced or renewable energy sources by the year 2025. Ohio’s food animal sector has the potential to add to this initiative by the adoption of waste-to-energy management systems. The Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center (OBIC) is evaluating these new technologies with funding from the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC).
The primary objectives of this project are to increase the use of waste-to-energy management systems and to establish alliances and strategic partnerships. This project has the potential to generate a new income stream as well as to reduce odor and build local community social capital.
One route to the achievement of these goals is through anaerobic digestion. Recent technological advances in anaerobic digestion of animal wastes and other agricultural biomass waste streams is proving to be a potentially efficient process to produce methane for the subsequent generation of marketable electricity, pipeline quality gas, recycled bedding and soil fertility amendments. The adoption of anaerobic digestion systems can significantly reduce on-farm odor emissions and insect pests while potentially adding another marketable commodity for Ohio’s diverse Food Animal Industry. A leader in this field is quasar energy group based in Cleveland, Ohio. quasar along with OSU and other collaborators was recently awarded $2 million from the Ohio Third Frontier Advanced Energy Program to begin in FY2010 to accelerate the commercialization of this patent pending anaerobic digestion technology developed at OSU.
For more information contact the author at hollis.69@osu.edu or visit the website at bioproducts.osu.edu. |
