DeBruin Farms
Owners		Leonard DeBruin
Location		Wolfe Island, Ontario
Herd size		180 milker
Off-farm Substrates		FOG
Design
Digester Size	1000 m3
Feedstock Handling	100 m3 receiving tank, 2 m3 pasteurizer
Development Time	2008 Feasibility Study 2009 Update Feasibility Study 2011 Commission
Process Volume	27 m3 / day
Retention Time	38 days
Gas Volume	180 m3 / hr
Electrical Production	360 kW
Heat Utilization	For process and barn and house
	Permanent new boiler operating on biogas and/or propane for start-up. Boiler on biogas operates in place of flare, coordinated with oversized radiator.
Background
Challenges addressed in this system were the REA process and the site location. This system is only second project that was processed under the REA (Renewable Energy Approval), a provision that allows for 50% of substrates from off-farm material to allow for greater energy production: when before that 25% was the upper limit for off-farm materials under the Nutrient Management Act.  The farmstead is also located on an island.  REA also stipulates the waste acceptance rate and storage capacity requirements. The development time for this project was slowed by regulatory processes that were still being formulated and refined.  One example, the REA process, took one-and-a-half years to complete from filing the first application to receiving the final approval documents.  Another hurdle was the requirement for a financial assurance calculation and a cash reserve to address the potentiality of having to clean up liquid waste storage facilities, should the system need to be dismantled. Additionally, waste haulers were deterred by the island location and its logistical challenges:  long travel distances, timing ferry arrivals and departures, and overall costs. Although Mr. DeBruin was able to secure off-farm materials for his digester system initially, and he persevered through the permitting process, the latter also led to the nullification of the agreed upon terms with the waste hauler, and thus he has limited access to off-farm substrates. Additionally, shallow soil conditions required bedrock blasting and a “close-coupled” biogas cooling field design, taking advantage of consistent bedrock temperatures. Unique site traffic planning meant a departure from traditional siting for the plant buildings. Grid access was also unique, requiring telephone and Hydro coordination, delaying the project by several months. Of general interest, the farm-based biogas installation location is set among one of the largest grid-connected wind turbine generation systems in Ontario.

 

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