Operator
STORMS FARM
Blandeboro, Bladen County
North Carolina
Meet An Anaerobic Digester
Let's Meet...
Billy Storms (Owner/Operator) & Don Britt (Operator)
Anaerobic Digester Type: Farm-Scale; Mixed Plug Flow
Operating ince: October 2013
What's going in to the digester...
It's not pretty, but what digester is? 28,000 feed-
to-finish hogs generate the manure, as well as
slaughterhouse wastes and mortalities. It's not pretty,
but it's energy efficient.
Why did you build a digester?
The 28,000 hogs plus 200,000 chickens creates a lot
of waste to manage and causes phosphorus is building
up on the land. It is important to be a good farmer and
good steward and look out for the next generation,
which includes addressing the phosphorus issue now.
Our needs will be met once we apply a nutrient recovery
system and recover the phosphorus and some of the
nitrogen.
What is the biggest benefit for your operating
project?
The hog houses don't smell since waste is moved
quickly and there is no methane building up in the hog
house. This makes for a healthier environment for the
hogs.
What outputs do you use from the system?
Will separate solids to bag and sell/spread on other
farms. Biogas is converted to electricity in engine-gen
set with biological H2S scrubber. The electricity that is
generated is sold to the NC Electric Membership Co-Op
that sells to all of the co-ops in the state (on the Four
County Grid). RECs are sold to Duke Power and carbon
credits are sold through Cameo.
"Everyone involved with the system
succeed because it has the pote
hog industrv in the US if it is succet
What's your challenge?
it took about six months to get the feedstock and
gas production we wanted. That mix of feedstock is
important. There were no other farms using a scraper
system nearby, so converting our barns from a flush to
scrap system was challenging.
Any advice for those seeking to build a
system?
Make sure you have a good source of feedstock because
you've got to feed the digester. Get everything planned
on paper and get your financing iined up before you
start. Do your homework before you start and be realistic
about the timing. Be prepared to wait! In other areas of
farming, you see immediate results with changes. That
is not the case with the digester. You'll see the results,
but you have to let the system build up in order to see
the benefits. But, the results come.

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