New anaerobic digester system for US university

Michigan State University (MSU) is to begin installing an anaerobic digester system which will use waste from the university’s farms and dining halls, generating power for some of the buildings on the campus.

The MSU’s board of trustees has granted permission for work to begin on the project, which is expected to cost $5 million (€3.8 million), although should pay for itself within five years.

The development is expected to come online in the middle of next year, using organic waste as a feedstock that would have otherwise have gone to landfills.

This waste will be decomposed quickly in the digester, producing methane gas which is captured and then turned onto fuel to power the electricity system.

The system will be the biggest on any university campus in the US and can hold about 390,000 gallons of waste.

The university currently has a smaller anaerobic digester on the campus, but this was a pilot project and all the biogas produced is used to run the system itself.