Digesters power electric vehicles

Jun 11, 2023

A mobile electric-vehicle charging station developed at Michigan State University features an anaerobic digester and an external combustion engine.

Renewable energy from dairy manure could possibly be used to charge electric vehicles, according to researchers at Michigan State University.

Wei Liao is working to implement mobile electric-vehicle charging units on small- and medium-sized dairy farms as more of the vehicles are developed to reduce carbon emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles. It could enable farmers to charge their own electric vehicles as well as generate revenue by charging vehicles for others, said Liao, a professor in the Michigan State University-Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and director of the Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center.

“We want to use this opportunity to link together the agriculture and the auto industry,” he said.

Adoption of electric-vehicle charging units on farms also could help encourage the dairy industry to become carbon neutral or have net-zero carbon emissions. About 45 percent of the carbon in animal feed becomes part of manure and is partially released as methane into the atmosphere, he said.

If farmers can use the waste for value-added applications such as producing electricity and charging electric vehicle, part of the climate problem becomes part of the solution, he said.

“We can achieve the carbon neutrality of dairy farms and similarly reduce emissions for the transportation sector,” he said.

Michigan State University converts food and animal waste at its South Campus Anaerobic Digester. The digester had a holding capacity of 450,000 gallons. In operation since 2013 it has digested about 60,000 tons of manure. In 2022 it digested 12,500 tons of manure from the university’s dairy farm and 15,000 tons of food waste from the university’s cafeterias and greater Lansing, Michigan.

The digester annually produces about 2.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Ten percent of that energy powers the digester itself. The remainder powers 10 buildings on the university’s south campus.

Liao is working toward installing mobile units on small- and medium-sized dairy farms. They’ll be unable to initiate the same amount of power as the university’s digester. But they’ll be able to produce 30 kilowatt hours of renewable energy per day, or more than 10,950 kilowatt hours of energy per year.

That’s not enough power to operate an entire farm, but it still could provide farmers opportunities. For example the energy from such a unit could charge batteries of emerging electric skid-steer loaders or small tractors used for cleaning animal pens, said Barry Bradford, an animal science professor at Michigan State University.

“If you could charge (these tractors) yourself without paying a lot and having to deal with how you’re going to charge them, that could potentially be a game changer for how jobs are done on dairy farms,” Bradford said.

As electric vehicles become more popular and people look for places to charge them, dairy farms could become a viable option. People could charge their cars while also experiencing the work of local farms.

“Because it takes a little while to charge electric vehicles, farms can keep visitors occupied by selling them a sandwich or an ice cream cone,” Bradford said. “Maybe they can do a $5 tour of the farm. This could be a more mixed funding model where you have agritourism, energy and – of course – milk.”

Email [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.

Wei Liao

Barry Bradford

Jack Falinski is a communications manager for Michigan State University-AgBioResearch.

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