Roeslein to finalise USD-120m manure-to-energy project in mid-2016

The construction of Roeslein Alternative Energy’s USD-120-million (EUR 109.5m) livestock manure-to-energy facility in Missouri continues on schedule and the firm expects it to become operational by mid-2016.

Building works on the project started last year and now the first phase, which involves installing impermeable covers and flare systems on the manure lagoons at Smithfield Foods hog finishing farms, is almost halfway completed, Roeslein said on Tuesday. Each year, the covers installed in Phase One will prevent about 850,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent methane from entering the atmosphere.

As part of Phase Two, the company will fabricate and install technology to purify the biogas captured by these covers. The resulting renewable natural gas will be fed into a pipeline operated by ANR, beginning next summer. North Carolina’s Duke Energy has agreed to buy some of the renewable natural gas to help meet clean energy requirements for power generation.

Roeslein also plans to produce even more renewable natural gas by supplementing the hog manure feedstock with biomass harvested from restored prairie grasslands. "We are developing a mixture of grasses and native species that provide ecological services, wildlife habitat and biomass that will be co-digested with manure," said Rudi Roeslein, the firm’s founder and president.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.913)

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