"If you're happy and you know it, make some gas" by Matt Steiman
Hi Folks! The farm's biogas project had a busy week! For those of you not familiar with biogas, it is a renewable version of natural gas made via controlled microbial fermentation of animal manure and food waste. The farm has been tinkering with demo scale biogas systems since 2008 and is now engaged in developing a larger commercial project for energy production.
As part of our education and outreach effort, we have partnered with math and science teachers from St. Patrick's School on Marsh Rd. This summer, math instructor Machele Lynch worked with us to run a demonstration experiment, from which she built a module to be used this semester to teach middle schoolers about waste to energy systems. For the fall semester project, the farm team has built a lab-scale biogas system that the students will use to test the energy production potential of waste from a local commercial bakery.
Also in outreach, we took the show on the road and brought a bag full of biogas to Farm Works (the new farm store on High Street) for the grand opening celebration Friday. Student Conor Caneday and Matt worked together to make hot popcorn using biogas made from our campus food waste. With our captive audience we also spread the word about food waste recycling through biogas and compost systems.
We've found a new partner for food waste diversion from the landfill. We're proud to add One13 Social restaurant to our growing list of commercial food waste clients. This week we collected over 100 gallons equivalent of produce trimmings and uneaten table scraps from One13 Social. This in addition to 2000 lbs of spent grain from Molly Pitcher Brewing Co and about 500 lbs of bread and pretzel waste from a commercial bakery. Currently all of this is going to our compost system but once our larger digester is complete, the restaurant waste will be used to generate biogas and electricity for use on the farm or sale to the power company! Progress continues on the large digester development - currently we are slogging through the paperwork and nuances of engineering and permitting. We'll keep you updated once we break ground, hopefully this fall or early winter.
If you'd like to learn more about the farm biogas initiative, check out blogs.dickinson.edu/farm/biogas where you can find links to our videos and some history of the project.
Thanks for reading! Enjoy your veggies and we'll see you on the farm.
