Combining anaerobic digestion and hydrothermal liquefaction in the conversion of dairy waste into energy: A techno economic model for New York state

Journal Article · 30 December 2019 · Waste Management

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.12.029 · OSTI ID:2228441

Kassem, Nazih ^[1]; Sills, Deborah ^[2]; Posmanik, Roy ^[3]; Blair, Calum ^[4]; Tester, Jefferson W. ^[4]

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1. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell University
2. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA (United States)
3. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center (Israel)
4. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States)

There is increasing global interest and policies being enacted to lower greenhouse gas emissions, especially from the agricultural sector. In the U.S. for example, states with large dairy operations may combine proven manure valorization technologies, such as anaerobic digestion and hydrothermal liquefaction. Sustainable manure treatment would increase the recovery of energy and other useful co-products, namely biogas, biocrude oil and hydro-char as well as lower the environmental impacts. In this study, the economic feasibility of implementing a centralized bioenergy system in New York State was investigated. Here, the feasibility of this transformation depends on many factors, including capital costs, discount rates, and other financing arrangements, electricity selling prices, incentives and farm sizes and locations. For a large-scale implementation in New York State accounting for nearly 50% of the state’s dairy farms, our model of a distributed, hybrid anaerobic/hydrothermal system was shown to treat 590 million liters of wet manure per day, producing 607 million kWh of electricity, 162,000 L of biocrude oil and 117,000 kg of hydro-char per day. Electricity selling price is a critical factor. Increasing the electricity selling price from wholesale ($$\$$0.06$ /kWh) to retail ($$\$$0.18$ kWh) increased the net present value from $$\$$395$ million to $1.5 billion (considering a 40-year project lifetime).

• Research Organization: RAPID Manufacturing Institute, New York, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: EE0007888
• OSTI ID: 2228441
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Journal Name: Waste Management Vol. 103; ISSN 0956-053X
• Publisher: International Waste Working GroupCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English