MARCH 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
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Biogas conference highlights opportunities, issues for farmers Consumers are embracing biogas, but farmers remain hesitant
by DAVID SCHMIDT
ABBOTSFORD – Biogas is finally coming into its own on the West Coast, six years after production first began in Abbotsford. Together with the BC
Agriculture Council and Hallbar Consulting, the Canadian Biogas Association debuted the first Value of Biogas West conference at the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford on January 27. The conference is an
extension of the show’s annual Agri-Energy Forum, which has steadily expanded its focus since debuting in 2011. The 2017 conference not only touched on biogas and agriculture, but also included information on the renewable natural gas (RNG) market, feedstock pretreatment, biogas production at wastewater treatment plants, municipal dry batch biogas production and upgrading biogas to RNG. RNG production in BC began in 2010 with the opening of Fraser Valley Biogas in Abbotsford. Developed by Chris Bush and now owned by Heppell’s Potato Corp., Fraser Valley Biogas illustrates how RNG can be part of the larger agri- food ecosystem. Heppell’s off-grade potatoes fuel the digester while Hardbite Chips, another Heppell’s venture, buys some of the gas it produces. “Heppell’s is both one of our suppliers and one of our customers,” Fortis BC energy solutions manager Colton Aston told the well-attended conference. Fortis takes all production
from the province’s four biogas digesters, located at FV Biogas, Seabreeze Farms in Delta, the Salmon Arm landfill and the Glenmore landfill. Surrey will open the province’s fifth digester at its biofuel facility later this year. That facility will primarily use curbside waste with most of the gas compressed for use in the municipality’s truck fleet. Aston says RNG is a natural
extension of Fortis’ existing gas business. Moreover, it aligns with
provincial energy policies aimed at reducing BC’s energy footprint and reflects consumer demands for utilities to “play a role in
sustainable energy projects.” Getting people to pay extra
to designate a portion of their purchases as RNG was initially a hard sell but that has turned a corner since the price of RNG dropped 30% last year. “Demand has exceeded supply since 2013,” he said. “We now have 7,500
customers and a total demand of 160,000 gigajoules while our current supply is only 125,000 gigajoules.” Aston said consumers like RNG because it supports local projects and allows them to “walk the sustainable walk.” RNG currently represents less than 0.25% of its gas supply but Fortis hopes it will eventually represent 10% of its volume. “It’s a lofty goal and the
government is favourable but it depends on ‘at what price,’” he said. Getting consumers to buy
RNG may be easier but anaerobic digestion remains a hard sell with farmers. It’s a significant investment, and farmers balk at using off-farm
increasing the foodwaste supply but Rolfe Philip of Yield Biogas Solutions notes that these are not clean feedstocks. “New organics contain up
Consumers like RNG because it supports local projects and allows them to “walk the sustainable walk.”
inputs to supplement on-farm waste. (Seabreeze, for example, uses 51% dairy manure and 49% foodwaste.) Farmers also worry about what to do with the digestate that remains. Organics diversion
legislation (requiring businesses and residents to separate their organics) is
to 50% contaminants which need to be removed before they can go into an AD.” Although Yield distributes
several systems to remove at least 95% of inorganic material from the feedstock, Philip notes the systems are too big for “a small farm.” Even on-farm waste needs to be separated before it goes
into the digester. Jim Peters of Pacific Dairy
Centre says several farmers are now using secondary centrifuge separation technology to not only separate the liquid and solid fractions but remove most of the phosphorus from the waste. The solid waste can be recycled into bedding while the phosphorus can be sold off-farm instead of spread onto fields, many of which are already saturated with phosphorus. Peters claims a 500-cow dairy could save $40,000 a year by recycling the bedding and removing the phosphorus. Bush notes that removing
fibre from the manure before it goes into the digester not only makes the digestion process more efficient but ensures bedding produced from the solids is free of external contaminants.
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