03/15/05 Company to build methane gas pipeline

Intrepid Technologies of Idaho Falls is about to build a second and much larger anaerobic digester at a dairy near Wendell. Spokesman Brad Frazee says the first digester that went into operation earlier this year at the Whitesides Dairy near Rupert has been a proving ground of sorts. FRAZEE "We verified our gas production. We verified the amount of solids that we burn up in the system, which is a big, plus for the dairyman. We're basically at a point a Whitesides where we're focusing on cleaning up that gas to meet out pipeline quality specs." Now they're planning to build a 40-mile long low-pressure pipeline over the next five years. Gas from various dairy digesters would go into the 4-inch pipe. FRAZEE "We still think some area around the Wendell area makes a lot of sense for a centralized processing plant for this gas and that's the direction we're going." At its biogas facility at the Whitesides dairy they processed over 500,000 gallons of manure in the first month of operation. The manure has been rendered into irrigation water and fed back into the dairy`s lagoons. Gas from the digester is now heating the dairy`s hot water system and the digester is producing an average of 43,000 cubic feet of gas a day from its two-tanks. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott