Ohio State University will hold a first-of-its-kind training course on anaerobic digestion, a waste-management process that livestock farms and wastewater plants are increasingly using to produce biogas, a type of renewable fuel.
The course takes place Sept. 6-7 at the university's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster in northern Ohio.
ALGAE SEEDSTOCK: Yebo Li, a biosystems engineer with the Ohio
"The (anaerobic digestion) industry is growing in Ohio, but there are no educational programs that provide an understanding of the scientific principles underlying the AD process or the daily management of an AD system," says Yebo Li, the organizer of the course and an OARDC biosystems engineer.
"If the industry is to continue to grow successfully, training must be available for the workforce, including AD operators, regulatory personnel who will oversee permitting and operations, and investors who will provide funding."
Li said the course is designed for people who already work in the anaerobic digestion industry; those who want to find out if anaerobic digestion is right for their operation, whether a farm, a wastewater plant or otherwise; and those who advise others on waste-management technologies.
The goal, he said, is to provide "a practical understanding of the digestion process and the means to address operational issues in the production of bioenergy from a wide range of feedstocks."
Anaerobic digesters take in waste materials, or "feedstocks," such as livestock manure, food-processing waste and municipal sewage sludge, break them down under tightly controlled conditions, and in the process produce useful compost and methane biogas.