Farmers Fueling The World
PAMI’s Applied BioEnergy Centre undertakes bioenergy research and development projects to produce energy using both liquid and solid feedstocks originating from Canadian Agricultural products. A major feature of the Centre is the pilot biodigester.
Total multi-year funding of $3.3 million, or about $300,000 per year (Click to read funding announcement) has been made available to research partners and entrepreneurs as leverage towards approved ABC projects in the areas of:
- First Generation – Bioenergy Integration Technologies
- Second Generation – Alternative Bioenergy Generation Technologies
- Biomass Evaluation And Development
- Systems Engineering.
Funded projects are approved by the PAMI ABC Board. Projects approved by the ABC board include:
- Anaerobic digestion
- Biomass densification
- Biomass yield trials
- Biomass logistics study
ABC Facilities
ABC builds on PAMI’s research initiative into anaerobic digestion by investing in a solid state pilot digestion facility. Key features of this facility are:
- Solid state (DM>15%) feedstock
- Capacity of 400 tonnes/yr (2 reactors each holding 10-20 tonnes of material/batch)
- Liquid recirculation (6, 200 gallon tanks + 2, 50 gallon sump tanks)
- Liquid and gas sample locations
- Gas collection from solid and liquid streams
- Inline gas analysis for CO2 and CH4 (tunable diode laser spectrometer),
- Designated gas monitor for H2S and CH4 concentrations to ensure safety in the operation
- Gas compression with the ability to add a gas upgrading module to natural gas and/or demonstration of gas utilization via combined heat and power generation.
PAMI makes available to clients a bench scale solid-state digestion system to conduct preliminary investigations into feedstock viability prior to using the pilot plant.
PAMI also operates a pilot liquid digestion facility established in 2005 with funding assistance from Western Economic Diversification, Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, and Natural Resource Canada.
Key features of facility are:
- 500 Imperial Gallon Anaerobic Biodigester equipped with a boiler connection to set and control the temperature of the system
- 250 Imperial Gallon Feed Tank with sump pump
- 50 Imperial Gallon Mix tank with weigh scale & Sump tank with pump
- 1400 Imperial Gallon Waste tank
- Spare 1400 Imperial Gallon tank
- Load cells, computers, flowmeters, and other instrumentation equipment for measuring gas flow, temperature, pressure, and other appropriate parameters
- Liquid and gas sampling locations
- Designated gas monitor for H2S and CH4 concentrations to ensure safety in the operation
- 250 Imperial Gallon Bio-Filter for the vent lines off the Feed, Mix, Sump, and Waste tanks
Testing Capabilities
The Digestion Facilities within the PAMI ABC are capable of undertaking wide-ranging tests, including:
- Feedstock Recipe Tests involving liquid feedstock mixes containing a maximum of 10% solids or solid feedstock mixes containing greater than 15% solids. Feedstock can include any organic materials such as manure, plant matter, seeds, grains, fats, glycerin, or a combination thereof.
- Retention Time Performance Tests involve measuring the performance (in terms of gas production rate and CH4 concentration) of a set feedstock when the retention time in the digester is varied. A minimum liquid trial of 15 to 21 days is recommended on a one-tank system with a minimum of 90 days recommended for solid-state trials.
- Feedstock Introduction Testing: Testing the procedure of feeding the system. How often fresh feedstock is introduced to the system will impact the gas production.
- Gas Utilization Trials: Clean-up technologies or collection and utilization are options the PAMI ABC can investigate with you.