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Increased dairy farm methane concentrations linked to anaerobic digester in a five‐year study
Author(s) -
Debruyn Zachary,
VanderZaag Andrew,
WagnerRiddle Claudia
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.1002/jeq2.20052
Subject(s) - biogas , environmental science , anaerobic digestion , methane , barn , waste management , bioenergy , biodegradable waste , manure , food waste , biofuel , environmental engineering , environmental chemistry , agronomy , chemistry , engineering , civil engineering , organic chemistry , biology
Abstract Organic waste materials are sources of anthropogenic methane (CH 4 ) emissions. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a technology that produces biogas from organic waste materials, and CH 4 is the primary component of biogas. Unintended emission of CH 4 from biogas facilities could undercut the environmental benefits of this technology. The objective of this study was to determine if the implementation of an AD system affected ambient CH 4 concentrations ([CH 4 ]) on a commercial dairy farm over 5 yr, from before installation into full operation. Concentrations at 4.5‐m height on a tower receiving wind that originated from various directions, comprising components of the dairy farm such as the AD facility, crop fields, or main barn, were measured using a closed‐path tunable diode laser trace‐gas analyzer. In 2012 and 2013, the first 2 yr of AD operation, [CH 4 ] was not significantly different than pre‐AD levels in 2011 (2.04 ± 0.01 μl L −1 ). However, mean [CH 4 ] increased to 2.47 ± 0.03 and 2.48 ± 0.04 μl L −1 in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and the occurrence of high [CH 4 ] (>10 μl L −1 ) increased from <0.05% in Year 1 (pre‐AD) to 12% in Years 4 and 5. These elevated concentrations were related to an increased use of food waste feedstocks over time and suggest that the biogas system was a source of fugitive CH 4 emissions. Food waste materials have a high biogas potential and are a valuable resource that require appropriate facility design and management to fully harness their benefits.