Engineer: Environmental Credit Corporation
Owner: Timothy Fessenden
Project: Fessenden Dairy Digester Lagoon Cover
Size: First stage – 80ft. X 175ft. Second stage – 175ft. X 365ft.
Material: 60 mil Coverflex VFPE
Installer: Environmental Fabrics, Inc.
Fessenden Dairy Floating Cover
King Ferry, New York, Fall 2008
Fessenden Dairy has been owned by the Fessenden family since 1863 and began dairy operations in 1918 with 15 milking cows producing two gallons of milk per day. After years of development, improvement and expansion, Fessenden is now home to 650 milking cows and 550 heifers. The manure waste from these cows was collected in an earthen lagoon. This operation caused unpleasant odors, collected weed seeds and emitted harmful greenhouse gases into the environment.
In an effort to reduce these odors and become more environmentally responsible, Fessenden Dairy selected the construction of the biodigester to solve these issues and to generate their own power utilizing a renewable fuel source. The digester works by allowing bacteria present in the digester to break down volatile solids in the manure which generates the methane gas which is then combusted in engines/generator sets. They produce approximately 500kW of continuous electrical output used on the farm. To help finance the project, Environmental Credit Corp. with Fessenden Dairy received a $1 million Conservation Innovation Grant through USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service in 2007.
The material used for all of the anaerobic lagoon covers was 60 mil Coverflex HDPE manufactured by the Polyex S.A. A cover ballast weight system and a biogas collection system under the cover, were also installed as a part of the system. This project also has a flare and monitoring system in place that records emission reduction credits.
Environmental Fabrics, Inc. of Gaston, SC was chosen for the fabrication and installation of the cover and biogas system. Since being placed in operation, the cover system has functioned as designed and with minimal maintenance.
