30,000 North Carolina Hogs Churn Out Renewable Manure Biogas, and That’s Just for Starters

The new 600-kW Storms Hog Farm manure biogas-to-electricity plant in North Carolina has just officially passed its proof-of-concept stage, leaving the field wide open to build even bigger hog manure biogas plants in the state.  With a hog population of 10 million the last time we checked, that could add up to quite a bit of biogas, possibly contributing to a sustainable fuel cell market in the region, including fuel cells for electric vehicles.

The heart of the operation is the proprietary Two-Stage Mixed Plug FlowTM anaerobic digester from a company called DVO, Inc.

According to DVO, the digesters reduce emissions of methane-rich biogas by about 90 percent compared to disposal on land or in fields.

Once the microorganisms have done their work, the remaining solids can be used as soil enhancer without the baggage that raw manure has.  Unlike raw manure the digested solids are nearly free of pathogens (“almost undetectable” according to APP), and there is “virtually no odor.”

DVO’s proprietary process also involves removing extra phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen, which helps to make the case for using the digested solids as a fertilizer while reducing the risk of nutrient overload in local waterways.

30,000 North Carolina Hogs Churn Out Renewable Manure Biogas, and That’s Just for Starters