By: Brooke Saari
Researchers at Washington State University, working with commercial partners, are hosting an upcoming field day to showcase anaerobic digestion and nutrient recovery technologies and the lessons learned over the past three years.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biological process that breaks down materials in the absence of oxygen, resulting in solid and liquid products, and biogas. Together with nutrient recovery and other complementary technologies, this process can provide environmental, economic and social benefits while managing organic waste.The research effort at WSU to expand anaerobic digestion centered within a system of complementary technologies is led by WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, working alongside colleagues in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, the School of Economic Sciences, and USDA-ARS. Dr. Tim Ewing, CSANR’s Research Engineer, said “This is a great opportunity to see the state of the art commercial anaerobic digestion system, and learn about commercial developments and research efforts focused on improving the profitability and performance of this technology package.”
Two farms in Whatcom County that have partnered with WSU and invested in these technologies will open their doors to the public during WSU’s Anaerobic Digestion Systems Field Day on June 9th, 2016 near Lynden, WA.
The field day, hosted by WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, will showcase various topics including fine solids recovery; advanced nutrient recovery approaches; nutrient recovery products and their agronomic use; water quality and food safety issues; economics; and the potential for integration of biochar with AD systems.
The event includes bus transportation to and from the farms, so registration is required. For more information and to register for this event please visit: http://csanr.wsu.edu/ad-field-day/.
For a more in depth look at current AD Systems research, watch the latest AD webinar series recorded February through April of this year. This series of five free webinars highlight Washington State University researchers and their collaborators sharing their findings on climate, air, water, nutrient and economic impacts of integrating emerging technologies within anaerobic digestion systems on U.S. dairies.
Funding for this field day is provided by USDA NIFA Award No. 2012-6800219814, WERF-EPA Award No. 83556701, NRCS CIG Award No. 693A7516020, and Biomass research funds from the WSU Agricultural Research Center.
Click here for a pdf version of the event flyer: AD Field Day Flyer Small