DTE Vantage, a diversified energy company, wanted to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from dairy manure at Matsche Farms, Inc. However, the location of the farm presented a sizable challenge: it was not situated near a natural gas pipeline injection point.
Mead & Hunt provided engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of this waste-to-energy system. A transfer system conveys manure from several barns on Matsche Farms—housing 10,000 cows—to a central location for anaerobic digestion. Two anaerobic digesters, 2.5 million gallons each, convert the manure into raw biogas. Our in-house fabrication team custom manufactured the boiler/heat exchanger skid, which heats the manure digesters. The biogas upgrading system consists of moisture removal, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) removal in H2S polishing vessels, carbon dioxide (CO2) removal in pressure swing adsorption (PSA) columns, gas drying, and compression. The truck loading system includes three bays for loading high-pressure RNG into trucks to establish a virtual pipeline.
This waste-to-energy system converts 550 SCFM of biogas into RNG and compresses it into high-pressure tube trailers that transport the RNG to the nearest pipeline injection point—providing clean fuel for more than 1,600 vehicles per year. This project contributes to a more sustainable dairy industry by reducing carbon emissions.
