Current Anaerobic Digester Designs

There are many different Anaerobic Digester (AD) designs, ranging from multiple-unit farm systems to single farm units. The former consists of very large multiple tank systems constructed of concrete and steel on the farm property, while the latter, typified by the EEC digester, can be applied to a very small livestock or agri-business operation.

 
 
High-Energy Thermophilic Anaerobic Digester
 
American Great Lakes, has brought to market a breakthrough AD design that will provide agricultural and agri-business operations that produce organic waste streams (manure, slaughterhouse and food processing wastes) with the ability to manufacture their own power and heat, and potentially provide it to the local power grid. The technology achieves high levels of methane production and almost total destruction of pathogens by engineering a high-energy feedstock blend and heating the tank to 55ºC.  At this level methanogenesis is maximized (up to 70+% methane produced by volume) and 99.99999% of all known pathogens are destroyed.

American Great Lakes has obtained exclusive rights to the high-energy output thermophilic anaerobic digester whose modular design is ideal for agri-business and municipal green waste destruction. It reduces processing time from 10 to 4 days; it increases CH4 (methane) yield from 50 to 70+ percent and more; and it has a virtual pathogen kill rate of 100 per cent. Most importantly, it uses a negative value feedstock to produce local (distributed) renewable energy.

Our modular system provides small tanks with a fixed volume of 80,000 litres. Unlike the vast majority of AD systems, they are capable of being shipped by flatbed truck and do not require a major construction project for installation, thus significantly reducing the project implementation cycle. Higher volumes can easily be handled by multiple tanks. These tanks can be installed inside industrial buildings, in cooler climates, and installed outside in warmer climates.  



The modular system allows the farm or agri-business to handle multiple waste streams or engineered feedstocks. Also, if one tank becomes unstable the process can continue to operate.  These tanks are self cleaning and can operate either in batch or plug flow mode.

The digestate, when dried becomes a valuable soil amender. This product can be bagged and sold or used on site by farmers to return valuable nutrients back to their croplands. In our case, the site in Thunder Bay sold this to greenhouses to improve crop yield, quality and taste.