It will serve as both a renewable energy plant and a learning and research laboratory. It promises a more sustainable future for the state\u2019s evolving dairy industry. And it will prepare new waves of environmental and renewable energy scientists for the workforce, students who hail from the kinds of small, rural Wisconsin communities where similar technology can help responsible farming prosper for generations to come.<\/p>\n
On July 9, partners broke ground on the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh\u2019s next and largest biodigester, a biogas plant that will include a public education center at Rosendale Dairy, the state\u2019s largest dairy farm at more than 8,000 cows south of Pickett.<\/p>\n
The $7 million biogas production facility and \u201cliving, learning, renewable-energy laboratory\u201d \u2013 funded by the UW Oshkosh Foundation — will be able to generate 1.4 megawatts of electricity by using Rosendale Dairy\u2019s livestock waste to generate, capture and combust methane. While helping dramatically reduce UW Oshkosh\u2019s original 2025 target date for carbon neutrality on the campus, the facility will also provide the institution\u2019s environmental science, microbiology, sociology and other students an off-campus laboratory to help expand their knowledge and develop career-launching expertise as renewable energy and rural social scientists.<\/p>\n
State of Wisconsin and town of Rosendale officials joined the UW Oshkosh Foundation, the UW Oshkosh College of Letters and Science, Rosendale Dairy owner Milk Source, BIOFerm\u2122 Energy Systems and that company\u2019s parent, Viessmann Group of Allendorf, Germany, at the July 9 groundbreaking. The new biodigester project follows the UW Oshkosh Foundation\u2019s and Viessmann\u2019s previous, successful collaborations including launch of the first dry-fermentation (food-and-plant-waste-based) anaerobic biodigester in the western hemisphere on the UW Oshkosh campus in 2011 and startup of the first, small-scale compact (livestock waste) biodigester at a family farm northwest of Oshkosh in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new project is one more demonstration of UW Oshkosh\u2019s focus on high-impact educational opportunities for students and service to our state — preserving Wisconsin\u2019s legacy and future prominence in the dairy industry by applying our campus community\u2019s knowledge, scientific curiosity, determination and entrepreneurial vision,\u201d UW Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn farms large and small \u2013 high-tech and traditional — our faculty, students and project partners will be using biodigesters as scientific instruments to conduct biosolids research and maximize a largely untapped, renewable energy source,\u201d Wells said. \u201cFaculty and students will also be helping private enterprise achieve an economic and ecological balance. That involves an educational experience few other institutions can provide. Not only will we be responsible for managing and maximizing sustainable energy on the farm, but we will also be producing future environmental and social scientists. This energy facility and research instrument will be as beneficial to Wisconsin as it will be to our graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n
UW Oshkosh, Milk Source, BIOFerm and Viessmann Group are also joined by partners Soil Net, Alliant Energy and Infinity Lawn and Garden. The large-scale Rosendale facility will produce seven times more energy than the existing UW Oshkosh dry-fermentation anaerobic biodigester, which went online in 2011.<\/p>\n
The Rosendale biodigester will process approximately 240 tons per day of separated solids — 23 percent total solids will be combined with up to 58,000 gallons per day of liquid manure. The mixture is referred to as the \u201csubstrate\u201d for the system. Two cylindrical anaerobic digestion reactors built by Viessmann Group will each have a 1-million-gallon capacity. Methane generated by the digestion process will be combusted in engines on the site. The digester units will produce up to 1.4 megawatts of electricity. That is enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 1,200 homes, according to BIOFerm.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also estimated to be enough \u201cgreen\u201d power production to dramatically reduce UW Oshkosh\u2019s 2025 carbon neutrality goal by several years. Sale of the energy back to power utilities will help generate carbon credits for the institution, already rated among the greenest in the nation by the Sierra Magazine (the Sierra Club) and The Princeton Review.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur UW Oshkosh Foundation and its board of directors are very proud of the entrepreneurial path we have blazed, and continue to blaze, in our support of our institution\u2019s academic mission,\u201d UW Oshkosh Foundation President Arthur Rathjen said. \u201cWith two, UW Oshkosh Foundation-supported digesters producing energy on and off campus, we are very confident this third, large-scale digester will significantly advance our efforts to negate our carbon footprint while strengthening UW Oshkosh\u2019s position as an unparalleled, cutting-edge institution allied with visionary local, regional and international partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project also represents one more tremendous step forward for the New North\u2019s burgeoning, national reputation as a proving ground and epicenter for renewable energy advancements and education,\u201d said Tom Sonnleitner, UW Oshkosh Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services.<\/p>\n
Milk Source co-founder and partner Jim Ostrom said he and his company were \u201cexcited to see this forward-looking UW Oshkosh Foundation project come to life\u201d after nearly two years of collaboration and planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe care, professionalism and commitment to sustainability and excellence that has been shown by the Foundation and its partners is an outstanding example of how diverse groups of people can work together to enhance the ability to use resources in new and exciting ways for the betterment of all,\u201d Ostrom said.<\/p>\n
Additional project benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n Renewable energy production is just one facet of the vision and plan for the new biodigester. The facility will include:<\/p>\n Existing partnerships, projects<\/strong><\/p>\n The Rosendale Dairy project adds to a growing list of collaborations between the University and Viessmann Group.<\/p>\n In March 2012, the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA), through the Department of Administration and State Energy Program, supported a feasibility study to install anaerobic digestion units on family farms with fewer than 500 head of dairy cattle. The \u201cEUCOlino\u201d (OY-co-lino) project conducted by BIOFerm\u2122 and UW Oshkosh through the UW Oshkosh Foundation, involves the first small-scale biodigester unit in Wisconsin. The feasibility study and test project is located on the Allen Farm, about six miles northwest of Oshkosh.<\/p>\n The specific project and technology, referred to as the \u201cTitan 55,\u201d involves a small-scale, wet biodigester with a 55 kW engine. It is innovative, scaled energy technology once again championed by Viessmann and BIOFerm.<\/p>\n Those companies were also partners in the UW Oshkosh Foundation\u2019s existing, on-campus dry-fermentation anaerobic biodigester. That facility came online in late 2011 and is capable of producing up to 10 percent of UW Oshkosh\u2019s campus electricity needs by generating and combusting methane produced from food and plant waste that decomposes in airless storage chambers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is our privilege to work with such forward thinking partners — Milk Source, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and the UW Oshkosh Foundation — in solving waste removal problems and launching this major waste remediation project which will benefit the Rosendale township and the surrounding area,\u201d said Joachim Janssen, Viessmann Group\u2019s chief financial officer and biogas sector leader.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, northeastern Wisconsin is widely recognized as a leader in the Americas in digester technology,\u201d Janssen said. \u201cThis project serves as another wonderful example of public-private partnerships working in collaboration to solve real-life problems within our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Viessmann Group\u2019s partnership with and support of UW Oshkosh has also extended into dynamic academic programs. In December, Viessmann Group CEO Martin Viessmann, Ph.D., and his wife Annette pledged a generous gift to the UW Oshkosh Foundation, creating the University\u2019s first fully endowed chair. The academic position will support UW Oshkosh\u2019s new Sustainable Technology program. The \u201cViessmann Endowed Chair in Sustainable Technology\u201d will, for decades, allow UW Oshkosh to play a visionary and international academic leadership role in renewable energy technologies.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Viessmann has found several ways to share his and his company\u2019s deep commitment to sustainability through these new and growing partnerships with UW Oshkosh,\u201d said Nadeem Afghan, BIOFerm\u2019s President and CEO. \u201cAs a subsidiary of Viessmann and a Wisconsin-based company, we are proud to continue to have the opportunity to expand that vision in the New North alongside UW Oshkosh, the UW Oshkosh Foundation and this new project\u2019s array of partners.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It will serve as both a renewable energy plant and a learning and research laboratory. It promises a more sustainable future for the state\u2019s evolving dairy industry. 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