New ideas for electricity and ethanol

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Country Today carries two stories of interest:

Company proposes whey-to-ethanol plan
By Jim Massey, Editor

MADISON - Officials at a California-based company believe a whey byproduct could be made into ethanol at as many as eight manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin.

Jeff Lee, manager of project development for Earthanol, based in Newport Beach, Calif., made a sales pitch Jan. 5 to members of the Wisconsin Specialty Cheese Institute. He said Earthanol officials are developing a process to convert whey permeate - often discarded by Wisconsin cheese plants - into ethanol.

Farmer helps design small-scale digester
By Megan Parker, Regional Editor

Digester designers didn't consider small farms, but Duane Chapman of Chapman Brothers Farms in Tomah wants digester technology to be a tool for smaller farms in managing their manure.

Mr. Chapman and Universal Sanitary Equipment Manufacturing Company in Tomah, which builds city sewage systems, are designing an anaerobic digester for smaller dairy farms.