High Solid Anaerobic Digestion (HSAD)

High Solid Anaerobic Digestion (HSAD)  is a thermophilic anaerobic digestion technologydeveloped by Pinnacle Biotechnologies, Inc. that uses naturally-occurringmicroorganisms to convert organic materials into useful by-products—specifically,biogas, liquid fertilizer, and biosolids.  Measurements taken at the experimental site showthat the biogas produced by HSAD process is about 80 % methane and 20 % carbondioxide (HSADa).  Some current manure treatment technologies allow low-solids (lessthan 5 %) barn effluent to be anaerobically digested using microorganisms.  The HSADreactor extends this technology to allow for organic effluents with a solids content as highas 55 % to be anaerobically digested (HSADb). Separated manure solids fed into thedigester at the experimental site were in the range of 24-30 % solids (HSADa).HSAD technology was tested in a demonstration facility located at Timber Ridge Farmsnear Clinton, North Carolina.