First North American Zoo Poo Biogas Plant Breaks Ground at Toronto Zoo

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--If only Noah had a biogas plant and turbine engine onboard the Ark -- he may not have drifted for 40 days and 40 nights, or a really long time.

A joint venture non-profit renewable energy group called ZooShare Biomass Co-op (Toronto, Canada), formed in 2011 to transform zoo poo and food waste into renewable energy, broke ground on a first-of-its-kind project in North America at the Toronto Zoo.

The plant will be located on a one-and-a-half-acre site on the east side of Meadowvale Road near the zoo's Canada Domain animal exhibit. While the silver shovel ceremony has taken place, construction is not expected to get under way until project design is finalized in May and an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) award has been made.

While construction is expected to start in June or July, completion and operations start-up is slated for a year later.

BIOFerm Energy Systems (Madison, Wisconsin) provided the biogas conversion technology as well as design and assistance with permit applications. Consulting firm Angus Power (Toronto), a ZooShare member, is also a partner in the project.

Plans include installation of a pre-treatment system, a large anaerobic digester tank and a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) gas upgrading system. The methane gas will drive a turbine generator that will produce 500 kilowatts (kW) of renewable electricity. The biogas plant will recycle some 3,000 tonnes of manure from the zoo and 14,000 tonnes of food waste from local grocery stores into renewable power for the Ontario grid.

Construction costs are estimated to be in the $3.5 million range.

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