ALBION — Metzger Dairy was founded on the business end of dairy cows.
Now, the agribusiness is going to be getting revenue from the part of the cow where it does its other business.
The Noble County Board of Zoning Appeal approved a special exception Wednesday to allow a company to construct an anaerobic digester system to collect methane from cow manure at the Metzger farms at 4837 W. and 4727 W. C.R. 100S, Kimmell, in Noble Township.
The unanimous vote came after a public hearing in the Noble County Annex on York Street in Albion. No one spoke against the project.
Construction will begin as soon as the Indiana Department of Environmental Management approves the permit, a process which could take months, according to AG Environmental Systems LLC. owner Kari Simpkins, who spoke on behalf of the Metzgers during Monday’s meeting.
Cow manure from the Metzger’s 1,500-head herd at that location will be pumped into one of two digesters. Each digester is a round concrete structure, approximately 100 feet in diameter and capable of holding a million gallons of manure.
The manure will then be heated, with methane gas and hydrogen sulfide appearing in gas form at the top of the digesters, according to Simpkins.
A scrubber will be used to remove the hydrogen sulfide and other gaseous particles, which will be collected and then pumped into special tanker trucks. Every 3-5 days, a full tanker will be driven to an injection point into a natural gas pipeline. The injection point is outside of Noble County, according to Simpkins.
One issue which may be good news for neighbors of the dairy farm is that the process will take a little bit of the pungent aroma away. There are two factors that make manure smell — methane and hydrogen sulfide.
“Methane is what we’re pulling out,” Simpkins said. “That means odor will be reduced.”
Large-scale dairies of 5,000 head or more have been collecting methane from manure for years, but it hasn’t been cost effective for smaller dairies.
IDGB Biogas LLC, of Dublin, Ohio, has put together a consortium of seven dairies, including Metzger Dairy, to make the project financially viable. Six of the dairies are located in Indiana, with the seventh in Ohio.
“It’s definitely not new,” Simpkins told the BZA of the process. “We have figured out how to do it cost-effectively.”
IDGB Biogas will be running the digester operation on the Metzger property.
All seven of the dairies have received their air permits and storm water permits. One of the dairies has received IDEM approval to go forward, with the Ohio-based dairy having received approval from the environmental agency which governs that state.
Safety was a big concern of the BZA, and Simpkins showed the plans already in place to handle emergency contingencies.
As part of the stipulations in approving the project, the BZA said the company must provide safety training, and that safety training must be conducted with one member of the closest full-time fire department — Ligonier — one member of the Albion Fire Department, which is the closest to the project as well as a member of the Metzger Dairy operation.
Simpkins said IDGB Biogas will have an employee on site daily to monitor equipment.
The project is financially viable to IDGB because companies wanting to carry a “green energy” designation must have a certain percentage of their products come from natural resources such as gas produced from manure. That puts a premium price on price customers will pay for the gas, much more than natural gas purchased from conventional harvesting methods.
According to a Reuters news service story from 2021, the cost of renewable natural gas was fetching anywhere from $18 to $100 per million cubic feet. At that time, traditional natural gas was selling for just over $3 per million cubic feet.
In a related matter, the BZA approved the placement of a propane tank on the property to provide the fuel for heating up the manure to release the gases.
A local supplier will be handling the propane supply, Simpkins said. The cost of that retail propane is significantly less than the value of the natural gas produced on site, which is why it will be outsourced.
The process involved will also cut the amount of sand which Metzger Dairy purchases. The dairy brings in approximately 400 tons of sand each year, which is used for bedding.
Under the current system, those 4,000 tons are needed annually because so much sand is lost as it is carried away by the manure and into holding tanks where it is reapplied with the fertilizer.
With a digester on site, the manure that is left over from the process can be reapplied without sand.
The sand will be stored and a process used to clean it so it can be put back into bedding.
John Metzer estimated the farms will use 70% less once the new operation is up and running.
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