Brian Langolf News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Shell’s abrupt change of course is a disappointment to the projects’ backers in Paynesville, Minnesota

Shell’s abrupt change of course is a disappointment to the projects’ backers in Paynesville, Minnesota

Danish company Nature Energy planned to build several large-scale anaerobic digesters in Minnesota and Wisconsin that would harvest methane from livestock waste to produce biogas. Those plans are now on hold. But experts say there’s plenty of potential to turn methane from manure from a liability into a commodity.

Photo credit: BIOFerm Energy Systems Before anaerobic digestion gained much traction across the dairy industry, Allen Farms had already proven the merits of the manure-handling and power-generating technology. “Our system was so much of a prototype in the beginning,” says Dave Allen, an Oshkosh, Wisconsin, dairy farmer. “Now that the bugs have been worked out, everything works well.” Since 2012, Allen has worked in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO) and BIOFerm Energy Systems (biofermenergy.com) to purchase and set up the anaerobic digester on his 13...