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Anaerobic Digester Production and Cost Functions

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  • Cowley, Cortney
  • Brorsen, B. Wade

Abstract

Methane production from anaerobic digestion has long been technically feasible, but adoption has been limited by economic considerations. For the first time using survey data, methane production and cost functions for anaerobic digesters are estimated for U.S. dairy and swine operations. Farm size, digester inputs, digester design parameters, and construction materials all affect the productivity and profitability of an anaerobic digester. Economies of size were evident for plug flow and complete mix anaerobic digesters, which were more economically feasible on dairy farms than on swine operations. Methane production alone is not enough to provide positive net present values. On dairy farms, economic feasibility could be achieved by marketing co-products, but swine farms required government support to achieve positive NPVs.

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  • Cowley, Cortney & Brorsen, B. Wade, 2018. "Anaerobic Digester Production and Cost Functions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 347-357.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:152:y:2018:i:c:p:347-357
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.06.013
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    2. Benavidez, Justin R. & Thayer, Anastasia W. & Anderson, David P., 2019. "Poo Power: Revisiting Biogas Generation Potential on Dairy Farms in Texas," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 682-700, November.
    3. Octavio Fernández-Amador & Doris A. Oberdabernig & Patrick Tomberger, 2022. "Do methane emissions converge? Evidence from global panel data on production- and consumption-based emissions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 877-900, August.
    4. He, Ke & Ye, Lihong & Li, Fanlue & Chang, Huayi & Wang, Anbang & Luo, Sixuan & Zhang, Junbiao, 2022. "Using cognition and risk to explain the intention-behavior gap on bioenergy production: Based on machine learning logistic regression method," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. Georgios Manthos & Dimitris Zagklis & Constantina Zafiri & Michael Kornaros, 2024. "Techno-Economic Assessment of Anaerobic Digestion for Olive Oil Industry Effluents in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-13, February.

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