Two-Stage Linear Vortex™ digester at Prairies Edge Dairy Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana

Indiana Dairy Farm Updates Its Digester System

Prairies Edge Dairy Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana commissioned a new Two-Stage Linear Vortex™ digester supplied by DVO, Inc., replacing the dairy’s outdated CSTR/complete-mix system and combining its biogas with that generated by the original DVO digester installed in 2008. The new digester adds 30% capacity to Amp Americas-Renewable Dairy Fuels’ (RDF) original Fair Oaks CNG installation, already noted for achieving the lowest “carbon intensity” (CI) score to-date for an operating dairy biogas-to-CNG installation by the California Air Resources Board, according to DVO.
RDF’s Jasper plant, its second and newer dairy-to-CNG installation, is also located in Fair Oaks, and combines biogas from a number of adjacent Bos family dairy farms that utilize DVO digesters. The Jasper facility is 50% larger than RDF’s first operation at Prairies Edge, which has been online since 2011 and was the first dairy biogas-to-transportation fuel project in the country.  Both dairy CNG sites represent North America’s largest, and the second largest, operating on-farm CNG installations, managing manure from 38,000 milking cattle.

Parity For Biogas

A tax package signed into law on Dec. 20, 2019 includes provisions to extend the Section 45 Production Tax Credit (PTC) for renewable electricity and the alternative fuel excise tax credit for biogas projects that provide vehicle fuel. BioCycle CONNECT Contributing Editor Michael Levin will be reviewing elements of these provisions and offer insights into the opportunities for biogas producers in an upcoming BioCycle CONNECT. In a nutshell, explains the American Biogas Council, extension of the PTC for biogas electricity, which can be converted to a 30% Investment Tax Credit, is retroactive for 2018 and 2019, and expires at the end of 2020 (although projects can safe harbor). The project must be placed into service no longer than 4 years after the year when construction began. The vehicle fuel extension provides a tax credit in the amount of $0.50/gallon for compressed or liquefied gas derived from biomass.