Digester Operation & Monitoring

The attentive operation and close monitoring of on-farm digesters is crucial to their success. The Dairy Environmental Systems Program has developed resources to help farms in the operation of these systems with the support of NYSERDA.

System Operation

• Successful Operation of Farm-Based Anaerobic Digestion - Key Items to Monitor and Why (2018)
• Benefits, Costs and Operating Experience at Seven New Agricutural Anaerobic Digesters (2014)
• Cleanout of a Plug-Flow Anaerobic Digester after Five Years of Continuous Operation (2007)

On-Farm Laboratory

• On-Site Analytical Laboratories to Monitor Process Stability of Anaerobic Digestion Systems (2013)
• Analytical methods monitoring AD process (2014)
  • PROTOCOL I - basic system; performance
  • PROTOCOL II - basic system stability
  • PROTOCOL III - advanced system stability
  • PROTOCOL IV - advanced system performance and stability
• Review of Curriculum Content and Programs for Anaerobic Digestion Education and Training - Norman Scott, Iain Clark, Curt Gooch, Richard Peterson, Walid Shayya, and Douglas Goodale, 2007

Project Reports

• NYSERDA’s DG/CHP Integrated Data System and Protocols for Data Collection from DG/CHP Systems - NYSERDA
• Net Metering - Jenny Pronto and Curt Gooch, 2012
• Anaerobic Digestion Monitoring at Synergy Biogas, LLC - Curt Gooch and Rodrigo Labatut, 2014
• Monitoring Results for Five NY On-Farm Anaerobic Digesters - Peter Wright, Scott Inglis, Jianguo Ma, Curt Gooch, Brian Aldrich, Alex Meister and Norman Scott, 2004
• Evaluation of the Performance of a 550 Cow Plug-Flow Anaerobic Digester Under Steady-State Conditions - J.H. Martin, Jr., P.E. Wright, S.F. Inglis, and K.F. Roos, 2003
• Biogas Distributed Generation Systems Evaluation and Technology Transfer - Interim Project Report - Curt Gooch, Scott Inglis, and Peter Wright, 2007

Archived Resources

• One Farm's Experience
• Evaluation & Optimization of Five Manure Digesters in New York State Project
• A Protocol for Quantifying and Reporting the Performance of Anaerobic Digestion Systems for Livestock Manures
• A Standard Protocol for Evaluating the Performance of Anaerobic Digestion Systems Used by Livestock Producers
• Settling Characteristics of Sands Contained in Anaerobically Digested Dairy Manures