Straus Family Creamery turns manure into power

Straus Family Creamery is running their meters in reverse with their high efficiency methane digester.  From their site:

Twice a day, the barn is cleaned by flushing with recycled water. Manure is scraped with a tractor toward a holding pond.  The pond is where the processes of decomposition and methane digestion begin.

1. Manure goes through a separator, which separates solids from liquids.
   
2. The liquids are piped into a second, covered pond that uses anaerobic (without oxygen) digestion, a process in which bacteria break down the manure.
   

The byproduct of anaerobic digestion is methane gas.There is sixty percent methane, along with carbon dioxide and a small amount of hydrogen sulfide that is produced.  The tarp that covers the pond captures the gases and they flow to a combustion engine. The methane fuels the engine of the generator. The generator then produces electricity.  Heat created by the combustion engine is also used to heat water for the dairy. This 180-degree water is used for cleaning barns.

The Straus Family Creamery is located in Marshall, CA:

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