Chatham anaerobic digester project gets $1 million boost

VanDerHyde Dairy’s anaerobic digester project in Chatham is one of 15 biomass and waste-to-energy projects to receive a share of $10 million in funding from Virginia’s Biomass Energy Grant Program.

The dairy’s owners plan to use the anaerobic digester to process manure from their nearly 1,000 cows, expand use of its by-product to make electricity and take dairy farming into the 21st century. The digester would recover methane from animal waste through anaerobic — or airless — digestion. The technology processes the waste to produce electricity, bedding and liquid fertilizer. It also produces waste heat, which can be put to use to replace hot-water production and used for in-floor heating. The project will receive $1 million.

The money for the 15 projects will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced the awards Thursday.

“We’re very excited that it (funding) came through for us,” said Roy VanDerHyde, secretary/treasurer of Dairy Energy Inc., and president of VanDerHyde Dairy. “We hope to very soon start construction on this project.”

The anaerobic digester — a $2.5 million project — will be 200 feet long, 72 feet wide and 16 feet deep, and would process waste in 21-day cycles. Construction of the digester, which VanDerHyde said will start next week, will take about nine months.

A $448,000 Tobacco Commission grant, $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and VanDerHyde’s financial contribution will pay for the remainder of the project, which will be the first of its kind in Virginia.

The digester will produce clean bedding for the farm’s dairy cows to lie in, reduce odor from cow manure, reduce pathogens in manure spread on fields and increase the fertilizer’s value, VanDerHyde said.

Red Birch Energy Inc., in Bassett, will receive $750,000 in funds, it was announced Thursday, to use glycerin, a waste-product of biodiesel production, to power a microturbineto generate electricity, according to a news release from Kaine’s office. The project is $1.2 million.