BIOGAS IN SOCIETY

A Case Story
COMPACT AND AUTOMATED
ON-FARM BIOGAS PRODUCTION
IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO, CANADA

IEA Bioenergy Task 37

IEA Bioenergy: Task 37: April 2020
BIOGAS IN SOCIETY – Compact and Automated On-Farm Biogas Production, Canada

BACKGROUND AND OPPORTUNITY

Canada has 37 operating on-farm anaerobic digestion systems,
with most of these located on larger dairy farms in the Province
of Ontario. To date, the Province of Ontario has had the most
supportive policies, programs and incentives to develop biogas
production, including both a cost-shared financial assistance
program and feed-in-tariff (FIT) system. Its FIT and micro FIT
programs have offered the highest rates for electricity produced
from biogas of any province.
The first farm to connect to the Province’s electricity grid, in
2003, was Fepro Farms located in Foresters Falls. This 290 cow
dairy farm installed a biogas system produced in Switzerland,
manufactured by Thomas Böhni Energie & Umwelt. Subsequent
Figure 1: Components of the small scale anaerobic digester installed at
to this, Ontario’s capital support program and green power Harcolm Farms (Source: BLOOM Clean Technology Demonstration
incentives led to the construction of 30 on-farm anaerobic Program – Case Study)
digesters. The most significant adopters were larger dairy farms,
with 250 to 1,000 head of cows, that co-digest dairy manure with Biolectric system was selected because the technology was
locally available organic material from restaurants, grocery stores, proven, it had a relatively low capital cost and a well developed,
abattoirs and food processors. With a more decarbonized automated system that could reduce operational requirements
electricity grid in Ontario and the ending of the FIT program, (figure 1).
larger farms are now investigating the production of renewable The Biolectric system was manufactured and pre-packaged in
natural gas (biomethane). Under the current energy and climate Belgium, and shipped to the farm to allow for a quick deployment
change policy framework, biogas upgrading is financially viable that reduced the overall costs of the system. The digester arrived
only at a large scale of production. This leaves smaller livestock in sections of stainless steel insulated panels and was rapidly
farms with very few options to adopt anaerobic digestion (AD) assembled in less than one week in cold January temperatures. As
systems. shown in Figure 2, the mechanical, electrical and automation
equipment are housed in a 20 foot shipping container. A trench is
MICRO BIOGAS CONCEPT used for connection to the electrical grid, laying of insulated hot
The micro biogas concept emerged in Europe about 10 years water pipes and the manure pipe connected to the digester. A
ago, and has been demonstrated in a variety of system designs. digestate screw press was installed at the exit of the digester tank
These are small scale AD systems, typically in the 5 to 50 kW to reuse the undigested straw and hay fibres as animal bedding.
range, that produce biogas from a single feedstock source to meet The dairy manure is directly pumped to the digester. There is
the farm’s energy needs. Many of the EU systems are agriculture neither manure storage nor pasteurization. The digestate is
based, located on smaller farms. One of the main motivations for stored outside until field application. As with manure, digestate
building micro scale systems was the high cost of co-substrates application is prescribed according to a nutrient management
such as food waste that had been inexpensive or even cost plan that is approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
negative years ago but now had become more difficult to procure. Rural Affairs. Fugitive methane emissions from the digestate tank
Smaller biogas systems allowed farmers to derive the many are minimized with the use of a floating straw cover, and the
benefits of AD technology, such as manure valorization, pathogen digestate solids are used as animal bedding.
reduction, improved nutrient availability and new revenue
streams, without incurring the extra management and capital
investment associated with larger systems.

THE BIOLECTRIC CONCEPT AT A SMALL SCALE

DAIRY FARM
In Canada, the first demonstration of the micro biogas
concept is Harcolm Farms in Beachville, Ontario. This farm has a
75 dairy cow operation and 80 hectares of arable land. A compact
system designed by the Belgian company, Biolectric, specifically
for smaller dairy farms, was installed by Martin Energy Group in
January 2018. Over 125 such units have been sold in Europe. The

Figure 2. Biolectric System installed at Harcolm Farms

 BIOGAS IN SOCIETY – Compact and Automated On-Farm Biogas Production, Canada

benefits, follows:
• Very quick installation and deployment,
installed in under 7 days in winter conditions in
Southwestern Ontario, and started up in a
matter of weeks.
• The entire system is fully automated and can
be easily monitored and managed from a smart
phone.
• Digesting fresh manure results in lower
fugitive emissions and greater methane yields
Table 1. Pro Forma for the Harcolm Farm Demonstration Project
from the digester.
From: The Bloom Centre for Sustainability. Case Study: Demonstrating the Performance of a Small-Scale
Anaerobic Digester Systems at an Ontario Dairy Farm. BLOOM Clean Technology Demonstration Program. • Lower management requirements because
September 2018
the system is not receiving off-farm materials.
Larger AD plant operators can spend many hours “chasing”
PROJECT FINANCING AND THE MICRO FIT organic materials which are competing with other sectors
CONTRACT of the organic recycling industry, such as composting plants
The capital cost to install a digester system has to be affordable and other solid waste management businesses.
and meet farm equipment return on investment (ROI) of 8 to • No land use change concerns as energy crops are not fed to
12%. The AD system installed at Harcolm Farms operates two this system.
combined heat and power (CHP) systems on separate electrical • Similar cost per kW installed when compared with larger
grid connection contracts. The first CHP operates under a net- AD systems because Harcolm Farms received a grant from
metering contract (paying approximately $0.20/kWh) that offsets the BLOOM Clean Technology Demonstration Fund that
the farm’s electrical use costs in the order of $ 12,000 per year (in reduced the project expenses for the farm.
2018 CAN$). The second contract is under the Province’s micro FIT • Fewer peak electricity demand charges from the Local
scheme with the Independent Electricity System Operator. Under Distribution Company to the dairy farm. Typically demand
this contract, surplus electricity is sold back to the provincial grid surcharges occur when a peak demand event above 50 kWe
at a price of $ 0.258/kWh (including 20 percent inflation over 20 occurs once during a monthly billing cycle.
years) which translates into approximately $ 20,000 per year (in • Fewer odour issues associated with manure storage.
2018 CAN$). The micro FIT contract is considered to be bankable • Pathogen reduction in digestate applied to crop land,
and was required for the farm to obtain financing (Table 1). i.e. 2 log reduction.
The system’s revenue could be further improved by, for example: • Improved nitrogen bioavailability (in the digestate) as
• Using more heat from the CHP systems during the summer nitrification of organic nitrogen in the manure takes place
to dry the digestate, hay, cordwood or wood chips, or to in the digester. This reduces the requirement for nitrogen
generate hot water for farm use. fertilizer in the same year as the digestate is applied.
• Installing a small scale district heating network to increase • Annual reduction of on-farm GHG emissions is estimated
the use of the heat (from the CHP) by neighbouring to be 70 t CO2e for each of the 20 years of the life of the
properties. Recuperating more of the heat from the radiator project. This calculation, carried out as part of the BLOOM
and the flue gases would increase the energy efficiency of Clean Technology Demonstration Program, is presented by
the system and also the revenue stream from the sale of source of emissions in Figure 3. The baseline scenario was a
heat energy. typical Ontario dairy farm that purchases electricity from
the grid, uses propane for heat and sand for animal bedding.
KEY BENEFITS
The Biolectric system installed at Harcolm Farms has been
shown to be an affordable, easy to operate and maintain on-farm
system for converting dairy manure from a 75 cow operation into:
electricity and heat for the farm; nutrients that can be reapplied
to the land; animal bedding; and surplus electricity sold to the
grid. It enabled the valorization of manure and facilitated the
farm to be energy self-sufficient. A non-exhaustive list of the
main advantages of the system, including the socio-economic

Figure 3. Estimated GHG Emissions from Farm Operation, Manure

Storage and Land Application of Manure or Digestate (BLOOM, 2018)
BIOGAS IN SOCIETY – Compact and Automated On-Farm Biogas Production, Canada

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES AND NECESSARY

FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS
Anaerobic digestion of organic waste streams can provide many
environmental benefits, and technologies exist for small as well as large IEA Bioenergy task 37
scale applications. In Canada there are close to 11,000 dairy operations. “Energy from Biogas”
Adoption of AD on Canadian farms has remained low due to the http://task 37.ieabioenergy.com
significant capital investments and the lack of a long-term energy and
climate change policy framework that enables the financial viability of CONTACT
Terrence SAUVÉ, Jake DEBRUYN,
AD systems. As Provinces maintain most of the jurisdiction in these
Chris DUKE, Anna CROLLA (Ontario Ministry of
areas, the frameworks need to be set by each Province according to their Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs), Maria
priorities and operating context. WELLISCH (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
As renewable natural gas (biomethane) production is not an option Rob MCKINLAY, Harcolm Farms
for small scale systems, a micro FIT-type program with net-metering, Email: rob@harcolm.com
capital assistance or some form of innovative financing where farmers John HAWKES, Martin Energy Group
could pay a lease cost for the system would be required for small farms Email: jhawkes@martinenergygroup.com
to make the business case to invest in an AD system. In this case, the www.martinenergygroup.com
micro FIT power purchase agreement was seen as essential to receive Biolectric
financing. The power purchase agreement is considered to be bankable, www.biolectric.be
while the net metering contract and carbon credits cannot be used as OMAFRA Biogas
guarantees or collateral at this time. Valorization of the system’s GHG www.ontario.ca/biogas
emissions reduction and other environmental improvements would A substantial amount of information was drawn from the
September 2018 factsheet produced by the BLOOM Centre for
help to shorten the payback period and attract greater interest in AD Sustainability. The organisation and website has been
systems.Dairy producers in Canada have adopted the Dairy Farmers of shutdown following funding cuts to this program area. We
would like to thank Kevin Jones and his staff for developing
Canada proAction program - an on-farm customer assurance program the original factsheet and hope to preserve some of the
valuable learning in this case study of IEA Bioenergy Task 37.
that addresses milk quality, food safety, animal care and welfare,
livestock traceability and biosecurity. The next version of the proAction Further Information
program, to be released in 2021, will also address environmental IEA Bioenergy Website
sustainability. As this case study has shown, compact and automated www.ieabioenergy.com
AD systems offer an affordable and practical option for smaller farms to Contact us:
reduce their environmental footprint, provided the supportive policy www.ieabioenergy.com/contact-us/
framework exists.

IEA Bioenergy Task 37

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