The Development of Small Fabricated Geomembrane Biogas Covers

Biogas collection and use from industrial and agricultural sources is a rapidly growing use for fabricated geomembrane floating covers. Most successful biogas collection projects in recent years have been on larger projects where the scale of the project allows for significant research and design expenditures. The need exists for a less expensive biogas collection solution for smaller farms. While State and National agencies work to develop protocols for using the biogas collected from small farms the development of biogas collection covers that meet the requirements of small agricultural projects has not kept pace. This paper presents the current state of the development of covers for small confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) with an emphasis on manure slurry storage applications. The problems with providing a cover for slurry storage will be outlined and the areas requiring solutions will be identified. An innovative design for prefabricated manure slurry storage biogas collection covers will be presented. The testing that went into the development of this new patent-pending cover design will be reviewed. Current biogas collection cover designs are not well matched to the small agricultural livestock producer. Small livestock producers have little capital available to design or purchase covers and current biogas cover designs are not matched to existing manure management practices. This paper presents the issues surrounding biogas collection for small livestock operations and an innovative fabricated geomembrane biogas collection cover that addresses these issues.