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Cow Manure Turned To Electricity At Sonoma Organic Farm ABC7/Bay City News, San Francisco, CA, September 25, 2007 PETALUMA: Manure from 240 cows at an organic Petaluma dairy farm is being converted into renewable electricity. The Petaluma City Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were at the St. Anthony Farm today where Sonoma County's first methane digester went on line. The digester will use bacteria to break down manure from the cows and produce biogas which will then be converted into renewable electricity in an adjacent generator. At the heart of the system is a 27,000-square-foot covered manure lagoon digester. Flushed manure from the organic dairy and wastewater from the farm's creamery will be pumped to the 2.3 million gallon covered lagoon. Microbes will then convert the organic matter into 17,000 cubic feet per day of methane rich biogas. The gas will then be channeled into a pipeline into an 80 kilowatt generator that will operate 12 hours a day. The electricity will provide a substantial portion of the dairy's milking center's and creamer's needs and the heat from the generator's engine and exhaust system will be captured to produce hot water for the farm. St. Anthony Farm has been operated by the St. Anthony Foundation since 1952. The Foundation provides a place for the homeless and impoverished to recover from alcohol and drug addiction. Participants work on the lush 315-acre farm outside Petaluma. The farm became certified organic in 1999. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5667253 -- ********************************************************************** Dr. Ann C. Wilkie Tel: (352)392-8699 Soil and Water Science Department Fax: (352)392-7008 University of Florida-IFAS P.O. Box 110960 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Gainesville, FL 32611-0960 ______________________________________________________________________ Campus location: Environmental Microbiology Laboratory (Bldg. 246). http://campusmap.ufl.edu/ ______________________________________________________________________ BioEnergy and Sustainable Technology Society http://grove.ufl.edu/~bests/ **********************************************************************