Canton weighs biogas project
CANTON — A long-sought system to turn methane gas into usable energy could become a reality this year for SUNY Canton.
College representatives will meet with the town Planning Board at 7 p.m. Monday in the municipal building on the college's project with NorthEast Biogas, Albany, to build a system using manure from surrounding farms and waste from school cafeterias.
"It's a pretty nice setup," Planning Board Chairman Michael K. Morgan said. "We'll probably set a public hearing for the following month. This will also go to the county Planning Board."
NorthEast Biogas will own and operate the facility, which will be on about five acres of Canton College Foundation land on Route 68 across from Irish Settlement Road.
"These are the kind of partnerships we hope to put together going forward," college President Joseph L. Kennedy said.
SUNY Canton started looking at the feasibility of creating an anaerobic digestion system in 2002 on the TeRiele family farm on Old DeKalb Road. Although that never materialized, SUNY Canton kept trying to resurrect the project, especially since it had a $1 million funding commitment from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Representatives of NorthEast Biogas couldn't be reached for comment Monday, but the company offers turnkey solutions for development of anaerobic digestive systems using a variety of customized models under various ownership plans.
Methane from waste and manure can be burned in a generator or used to make electricity. Northeast Biogas determined there was more than enough manure and waste nearby to supply a 500-kilowatt digester. A generator at the site would use some of the methane to power the facility.
Waste deliveries would be made twice daily and pumped into a cement tank inside a building through a closed system, eliminating any smell.
"It's relatively small," Vice President for Advancement David M. Gerlach said. "What they've described to us is a nondescript building."
Byproducts include a dry material that could be used for animal bedding and an odorless liquid manure with the same fertilizer value that it had before processing.
Methane gas would be piped about a half-mile across foundation and state land to campus, where it would feed an engine inside a building near the athletic complex, which will have radiant floor heating that can take advantage of the power. It also would help make ice for the rink and offset the college's electrical load by about one-third.
SUNY Canton would purchase the green electricity.
The college also would benefit in that it wouldn't own the digester outright but could use it to enhance its four-year alternative and renewable energy systems program.
"To me, it's a win-win. Now, we're just leasing land and buying heat and power," Mr. Gerlach said. "We have pressed hard to have our students be able to use it as a laboratory."
