Swine Farm Anaerobic Digestion Analysis Tool Available

Sep 23, 2025

By Daniel Ciolkosz and Bill Lazarus

Are you a swine farmer, or have a friend who raises pigs? Are you interested in maybe adding an anaerobic digester to your operation to produce energy and control odors? If so, you will be interested to know that Penn State Extension has released a new spreadsheet-based tool for analyzing swine farm anaerobic digesters that produce Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) 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.

Source : psu.edu

Video: Porcine Gut Models in Nutrition Research - Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen, postdoc researcher at Aarhus University, discusses how porcine intestinal cell lines and organoids can help study the impact of nutrition on gut health. He explains how in vivo piglet trials identify diet-driven shifts in microbiota and metabolites, while in vitro models allow researchers to test specific metabolites, barrier function, immune markers, and future organ-on-chip systems before moving back to animal studies. Listen now on all major platforms!

"In vitro models can reduce early animal use by helping researchers screen nutritional candidates before moving back to in vivo trials."

Meet the guest: Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen / li-hsuan-chen-9a95a7279 is a postdoc researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark. Research focuses on porcine gut health, host-microbe interactions, cell lines, and organoids, with PhD work at Aarhus University studying how dietary protein and amino acid levels shape gut microbiota, microbial metabolites, and intestinal epithelial responses. Learn more from Dr. Li-Hsuan Chen on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.