38,000 Indiana Dairy Cows Are Making “Good Gas”…While Reducing OUR Carbon Footprint

By Doug VanOrnum, Vice President of Strategy & Technology, DVO

CHILTON, Wisconsin – DVO, Inc. recently announced the commissioning of their newest “Two-Stage Linear VortexTM” digester at Prairies Edge Dairy Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana – replacing the prominent dairy’s outdated CSTR/complete-mix digester, and combining its biogas with the original DVO digester installed in 2008.

“Given the same inputs, our newest DVO digester produces more biogas than our old [upright tanks/complete-mix] digester ever made on a good day, by at least 25%.”
Carl Ramsey, Prairies Edge Operations Manager

The new digester adds 30% capacity to Amp Americas – Renewable Dairy Fuels’ (RDF) original Fair Oaks CNG installation – already noted for achieving the lowest “carbon intensity” (CI) score to-date for an operating dairy biogas-to-CNG installation by the California Air Resources Board. A good CI score is crucial in determining the value of the credits created for the California LCFS program, aimed at reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels.

RDF’s Jasper plant, its second and newer dairy-to-CNG installation which is also located in Fair Oaks, IN, combines biogas from a number of adjacent Bos family dairy farms and also utilizes DVO digesters. The Jasper facility is 50% larger than RDF’s first operation at Prairie’s Edge, which has been online since 2011 and was the first dairy biogas-to-transportation fuel project in the country.

Today, both dairy CNG sites represent North America’s largest, and the second largest, operating on- farm CNG installations. The manure from all 38,000 milking cattle are anaerobically digested exclusively by DVO.

Why DVO? Amp America’s CEO Grant Zimmerman responds, “It’s simple. DVO’s system digests ALL the waste from a dairy – nothing bypasses. The manure is thoroughly and efficiently processed, and the gas output is steady and predictable year-round. Together this means significantly more biogas is produced ‘per cow’ than with other digester designs. DVO also has an excellent track record of success. These things are good for the environment and the local community – and tend to make our investors happy, too.”

Zimmerman adds, “It also helps that dairy farmers already know DVO, and they like the other benefits the DVO system offers them.”