Company in Alberta to convert cattle manure into natural gas, burying CO2
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Manure from thousands of cattle in southern Alberta will be used to supply renewable natural gas while at the same time suppressing harmful carbon dioxide emissions in a first-of-its-kind project.
Taurus Canada Renewable Natural Gas Corporation’s plan to build an integrated anaerobic digestion and carbon sequestration facility near Lethbridge was unveiled Thursday, boosted by a multimillion-dollar grant from the Alberta and federal governments.
Once its central farm facility is built, Taurus will convert 130,000 tons of manure harvested from nearby animal pastures into 360,000 gigajoules of natural gas per year – enough energy to power about 4,000 homes, or the entire town of Coaldale.
Small-scale energy project was one of them Six initiatives were revealed on Thursday Which received a combined $28 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta’s annual Industrial Transformation Challenge.
Taurus received a $10 million grant from Alberta and $3.4 million through the federal government’s Low Carbon Economy Fund, while using its own equity and debt to cover the $85 million cost of the plant.
Alberta’s newly appointed Environment Minister Grant Hunter, who is also a local MLA, said his United Conservative government wants to support domestic innovators.
“It’s all good for the energy sector. It’s all good for Alberta, the economy and the environment,” Hunter said from outside Coaldale.
How does manure convert into electricity?
Taurus detailed a multi-step process that would be used to produce natural gas.
Livestock manure will be collected from four feedlots and transported to a facility, where it will be stored inside to prevent odors.
Producing food is producing energy, and so this is just an evolution of what we’re creating here.-Ryan Kasko, Kasko Cattle Company
The waste is then fed into a pre-treatment system, and diluted with treated water to create a slurry and remove any rocks or small stones.
Next, in a process known as anaerobic digestion, the solution is pumped into completely closed tanks and maintained at 40 C in an oxygen-free environment for up to a month.
Natural microbiological processes break down the manure, producing both biogas and nutrient-rich digestate.
The CO2 will be pumped into a 1.5 kilometer deep well for permanent storage.
“You have to have the right geological formations underneath to do this,” he said Taurus executive Philip Ebrary. “TeaThe geological formations in Alberta are ideally suited for these types of activities.”
Meanwhile, the finished renewable natural gas will be transported to a nearby pipeline to the customer.
Ultimately, three different forms of digestate will be produced for agricultural use in the field.
Fred Ghatala, president of Advanced Biofuels Canada, told CBC News that combining different existing technologies in such a project creates an “enviable Venn diagram” of innovation.
“This is another example of how we can use what Canada produces in abundance to reduce our carbon footprint, increase our energy security and expand our GDP in a way that is not impacted by foreign trade relationships.”
‘A development’
Ryan Casco, chief executive of Casco Cattle Co. – one of two family-owned feedlots that will provide the manure – called the new partnership with Taurus a natural step.
“Producing food is producing energy, and so this is an evolution of what we’re creating here,” Casco said during a news conference near Coaldale.
He said government funding helps reduce the risk of a technology that “could be transformational for southern Alberta agriculture.”
Daryl Bennett, a surface rights lawyer based in Tabor, Alta., said the Taurus facility is an example of a landowner-friendly project without any downsides.
“The fact is that many of these feedlots have to deal with large amounts of manure, and this seems to be an environmentally-responsible way to do it,” Bennett said.
“Hauling the manure will reduce a lot of carbon emissions, we still get the benefits of fertilizer, and it seems like a well-thought-out project.”
