For pork producers interested in adding an anaerobic digester to their operation to produce energy and control odors, Penn State Extension has released a new spreadsheet-based tool for analyzing swine farm anaerobic digesters that produce renewable natural gas that is delivered to the natural gas pipeline network.
This tool is available on the Penn State Extension website, and is free for downloading and use.
The tool utilizes inputs about the farm's size and operating characteristics, and calculates the expected performance of the digester in terms of its economic productivity. Daniel Ciolkosz, Penn State assistant professor and research associate, says this is a really important thing to know if you are considering a digester, because many factors can affect whether a digester will pay off or not. Some of the key inputs include:
- Amount of manure available.
- Amount of cropland available for spreading nutrients.
- Is there any land available to grow winter rye as a bioenergy feedstock?
- Is there any perennial grassland available to provide feedstock?
The estimated performance of the system is calculated, including two key values:
- Internal Rate of Return: numbers above 10% are considered favorable
- Net Present Value: numbers above zero are considered favorable
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