Michigan State University (MSU) has received $3 million in to construct a 3,280 square foot Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education (ADRE) Center on the south side of campus.
“The initiating of the Center completes our vision for a continuum of research capabilities from theoretical calculations, laboratory-scale, bench-scale, pilot-scale and farm-scale anaerobic digestion research," says Steven Safferman, the center’s director and an associate professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.
The ADRE Center will develop ways to efficiently convert manure liquid into methane for heat and electricity while extracting fiber for soil enrichment or ethanol manufacture and water for irrigation. Other valuable outputs could include animal feed and algae, which can be processed into biofuels.
The new facility will allow researchers to use an already existing process to create waste-to-power systems for small and mid-sized farms. The new Center is an expansion of the university’s farm animal and environmental research complex.
MSU received a two-year $1.5 million Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) research grant for the project and a three-year, $1.5 million from a private southeastern Michigan foundation to build the facility.
Source: MSU
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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