Harnessing Waste for Energy: Insights from the Pennsylvania Biogas Workshop
Over two days, Team Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) convened a diverse group of farmers, engineers, researchers, policymakers, and sustainability advocates for a biogas workshop focused on digesters—simple, but powerful systems that convert organic waste into usable energy. The event offered a preliminary look at the promise and practicalities of biogas technology for the state and included two site visits.
Day One: The Basics and the Big Picture
The workshop opened with “Digesters 101,” a session led by Matt Steiman, Assistant Director of the College Farm and Energy Projects Manager, which covered the fundamentals of anaerobic digestion. Unlike aerobic decomposition (with oxygen), which produces heat and carbon dioxide, anaerobic digestion occurs in oxygen-free environments and, through fermentation, yields methane-rich biogas—a valuable energy source.
Feedstock selection emerged as a fundamental element. Livestock manure, while plentiful, is energy-poor due to prior digestion in animals, yet it carries the microbial population needed to start the fermentation process. On the other hand, food waste is energy-rich but microbe-poor. Co-digestion of both materials proves optimal—manure provides the microbes, while food waste boosts energy yield.
Tom Murphy of Team Pennsylvania and Mike Roth of PDA framed biogas within the broader energy and agricultural landscape. They pointed to Denmark—a global leader in biogas adoption—as a model, noting how policy and community coordination helped scale the technology from pilot projects to a national energy asset. However, they warned against applying a one-size-fits-all model in Pennsylvania due to its varied regional policies and infrastructure.
National and Policy Perspectives
The Digester Operator Panel— featuring Matt Steiman (Dickinson College Farm), Travis Miller (Nutrient Control Systems), and Brett Reinford (Reinford Farms)— underscored both the potential and barriers to expanding biodigester development in Pennsylvania, learned from personal experiences. Panelists emphasized the importance of tipping fees (funds received from accepting food waste) as essential to financial viability, with Reinford noting his reliance on brokered waste from four surrounding states and Pennsylvania, as well as the added value the digester operation brings to his farm. However, significant hurdles remain. The panel commented on utilities’ lack of expertise in biogas, slow and expensive permitting and interconnection processes, and construction costs that have more than doubled in recent years without a corresponding increase in farm revenue. The panel called for strong state support through streamlined policy, infrastructure investment, and education for the utilities to avoid missing a key economic opportunity for agricultural businesses in renewable energy.
Heather Dziedzic, American Biogas Council’s Vice President of Policy, emphasized the role of policy in biogas advancement. She outlined opportunities for grants, clean fuel standards, and community-scale digesters. Small farms, she noted, often lack the volume needed for standalone systems, but could benefit from community digesters within a 30-mile radius. Investment tax credits and reforming electricity portfolio standards could make projects more viable.
Dr. Chris Morris of Penn State University showcased how integrating perennial cover crops with digesters could both generate energy and enhance ecological resilience. C-Change, this $10 million initiative led by Iowa State, focuses on combining education, technology, and extension services to improve outcomes for farmers and the environment alike.
To close out Day 1, participants engaged in a working session to reflect on takeaways from the day’s discussions. As table groups, participants responded to prompts like, “Where do you see the biggest opportunity for biogas use?”, and “If you could remove one barrier to biogas adoption today, what would it be?”. Themes included the need for clearer permitting pathways, better education and collaboration with the public sector and utility providers, as well as acknowledging the importance of food waste in project viability. The session concluded with a full group report-out, where shared reflections helped synthesize the day’s content and laid the groundwork for seeing the work in action during Day 2’s field visits.
Day Two: Site Visits in Action
The second day took participants on tours of digesters at Dickinson College Farm and Reinford Farms.
At Dickinson, the small and pilot-scale digesters highlighted the practical integration of food waste from Dickinson College’s and local businesses like apple producer, Rice Fruit. The digester receives around 3,000 gallons of slurry per day, combining manure with high-energy apple waste and brewer’s grain to enhance methane output. The resulting biogas provides 1,200 kWh per day—90% of which is exported to the grid. Residual solids become valuable bedding for cows, saving the farm around $10,000 annually.
In contrast, Reinford Farms demonstrated a large-scale, commercialized model. With two digesters handling over 15 tons of food waste per hour through a de-packaging facility, the operation now resembles a logistics company as much as a farm. They produce 3 MW of electricity, sell renewable energy credits (RENs), and recover aluminum for resale. Yet, they also face hurdles—ongoing, costly maintenance, and local concerns about increased truck traffic.
Looking Forward
The workshop underscored that biogas is not a silver bullet but a promising component of a diversified, sustainable energy future. Stakeholders agreed that Pennsylvania holds untapped potential for biogas, but policy alignment, investment, and public education are needed.
The key takeaway: biogas can help address waste management challenges, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support on-farm resilience, and contribute to rural economic development. But realizing this potential requires coordinated action—from farmers and scientists to legislators and utilities. As one participant put it, “We’re not just solving a manure problem. We’re building a cleaner, more resilient energy future for Pennsylvania.”
A few weeks later, Team Pennsylvania joined a broader state delegation hosted by Denmark. There they saw how the country has scaled their digester system nationally and witnessed various technologies in action among 20 sites.