Everything but the Kitchen Sink – Converting Multiple Organic Waste Streams to Renewable End-Products at North America’s Largest Biogas Production Facility

Heartland Biogas, LLC (Heartland) commissioned the design and construction of a thermophilic anaerobic digester (AD) facility located in southeast Weld County, Colorado to digest cow manure and other organic substrates (e.g., grease trap wastes, food processing wastes, supermarket wastes) from the Greeley/Denver metropolitan area. The facility will yield three key end products - a methane-rich biogas, composted organic digestate, and a liquid effluent containing nutrients suitable for agronomic recovery. The biogas will be scrubbed and injected into the Colorado Interstate Gas Company (CIGCO) pipeline. The digester effluent will be composted on-site and used for a variety of agricultural applications. The liquid effluent will be utilized locally for irrigation purposes providing a nutrient amendment for area cropland. The Heartland plant is expected to be the largest biogas production facility in North America, will sustainably preclude release of pollutants to the local environment, and significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted to the atmosphere.