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Local farmer eventually hopes project will turn manure into electricity

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By TODD HELBERG

cnedit@crescent-news.com

HICKSVILLE -- A cattle farmer's project east of here could eventually turn manure into electricity.

But for now, 5Cs Farm owner Bill Cleland Jr. says the 66,000-square-foot building being erected at Ohio 18 and Rosedale Road will store manure from his cattle operations on Cicero Road. The building will be ready as a manure storage facility by Jan. 1, he said.

If this is as far as the project goes, the structure will have capacity to store six months worth of manure. This will be distributed to local farm fields at opportune times. (Recent Ohio Department of Agriculture regulations prohibit confined animal feeding operations -- such as 5Cs Farm -- from spreading manure at certain times in the winter.)

Bigger things are planned.

Cleland said a drier will also be installed on the property. This will dry the manure, making it easier to store and transport.

"You reduce the volume two-thirds by drying it," he explained. "It costs me a considerable amount of money to haul manure, so if I got it in that building, there will be more opportunity to sell it than give it away."

While this will help the Cleland farm no matter what comes next, he says the dried manure would also provide the raw ingredient for electricity generation.

The plan is to install a gasifier -- perhaps next year -- that would burn the dried manure and release CO gas. The gas would be captured and cooled to the appropriate temperature, then run through 18 diesel engines to produce several megawatts of electricity.

Cleland is working on a deal with Buckeye Power, which sells to local electric cooperatives such as Northwest Electric, based in Bryan.

However, he said, financial details still need to be worked out because if the entire project comes to fruition, it will require an investment topping $10 million.

"We haven't got all the financing put together," said Cleland. "The plan is to process 300 tons of manure per day. That, in turn, will generate about five megawatts an hour."

Northwest Electric Coop president Dennis Astley said this amount would represent "20-25 percent" of what his company uses at "peak times." Northwest primarily serves customers in Defiance and Williams counties with a few in Fulton, Henry and Paulding counties.

"Northwest Coop is very happy to be working with 5Cs Farm on this," said Astley. "We would be excited to have their power in our lines."

Cleland said he would be in charge of obtaining the manure for the operation.

"It will be my responsibility to deliver the manure," he said.

But he will have to look further than his own backyard to make good on that task.

He said his 3,500-steer operation on Cicero Road would generate only one-third of the necessary manure. The remainder would come from farmers in the Hicksville and Antwerp area.

Finding enough will "not be a problem," Cleland said.

All that potential manure naturally poses questions about the odor.

Cleland doesn't anticipate a problem, especially if the large-scale plan is enacted.

"The building will be completely contained," he said. "When we fire the burner up, there will be negative pressure on the building that will eliminate any kind of odor."

One option Cleland is also exploring is turning the manure into pellets for commercial sales. These could be burned for heating purposes like wood pellets, he said, and without any odor.

Some 2,300 yards of concrete have been laid at the site, according to Cleland, an expense totaling "several hundred" thousand dollars.

The building will be topped with a tarp roof, he said, painted with Hicksville school colors (red and white).

One Defiance County official who supports the project is economic development director Jerry Hayes.

"We applaud their efforts," said Hayes. "It's going to create employment."

According to Cleland, 12 full-time jobs would be created if the project becomes a reality.

While the project is still a ways from completion, Defiance County commissioners said they would be willing to help locate state grant funds to improve Rosedale Road, if needed, to help handle additional traffic into the site. But Rosedale Road is the responsibility of Mark and Hicksville townships.

"We will do whatever we can to try to find funds," said Commissioner Tom Kime.

However, besides having a meeting a year or so ago with Cleland to overview the project, Kime said "no one has contacted us at this point."

This is the second prospective energy-related project that Cleland has been involved with.

He was part of the original group (Northwest Ethanol) which hoped to build an ethanol plant south of Ohio 18 at Rosedale Road. However, after that property changed ownership, the project was deemed too expensive and did not get off the ground.

Electricity generated from cow manure is already being used locally.

Northwest Coop's Astley said Bridgewater Dairy -- near Pioneer in Williams County -- utilizes methane gas from its manure to produce power. This power is being used by Northwest, he said.

However, this is a different system than what Cleland is proposing, and generates about 10 percent of the load 5C Farm's operation might produce.