MSU Board of Trustees authorizes campus Anaerobic Digester (More...)
Michigan State University is poised to begin work on a new anaerobic digester, a system that will not only help re-use waste from MSU’s farms and dining halls, but also will create energy for some on-campus buildings.
At its April 13 meeting, the MSU Board of Trustees authorized the administration to begin work on the project, an approximately $5 million venture that should pay for itself in less than 15 years.
When it is completed, probably in the summer of 2013, the system will provide a source of renewable energy which will be used to produce electricity for some of the buildings south of the main MSU campus. It also will keep organic waste produced at the university from going to landfills.
An anaerobic digester is a sealed tank, deprived of oxygen, in which organic waste is degraded at an elevated temperature. This allows the waste material to decompose quickly and produce methane that can be captured and used as fuel.
“Once complete, this system will be the largest on a college campus in the United States,” said Dana Kirk, a specialist from MSU’s Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering who is overseeing the project. “It will be the largest in volume and in energy output.”
Slides from the Board of Trustees presentation:
