A groundbreaking project in southern Alberta will utilize manure from numerous cattle to produce renewable natural gas while simultaneously storing harmful carbon dioxide emissions. Taurus Canada Renewable Natural Gas Corp. recently announced its initiative to construct an integrated anaerobic digestion and carbon sequestration facility near Lethbridge. The project, supported by significant grants from both the Alberta and federal governments, aims to convert 130,000 tonnes of manure from local cattle feedlots into 360,000 gigajoules of natural gas annually. This output is sufficient to power around 4,000 households or the entire Town of Coaldale.
The Central Farms facility by Taurus is part of a set of six initiatives disclosed on Thursday, receiving a total of $28 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta’s Industrial Transformation Challenge. While Taurus secured a $10-million grant from Alberta and an additional $3.4 million from the federal government’s Low Carbon Economy Fund, the company also invested its own equity and obtained loans to cover the $85-million project cost.
Grant Hunter, Alberta’s new environment minister and local MLA, emphasized the government’s commitment to supporting local innovators and the energy sector. The multi-step process outlined by Taurus involves collecting livestock manure from various feedlots, preprocessing it to create a slurry, and subjecting it to anaerobic digestion in enclosed tanks to produce biogas and nutrient-rich digestate. The captured CO2 will be stored deep underground, while the renewable natural gas will be channeled into a nearby pipeline for distribution. Additionally, different forms of digestate will be generated for agricultural purposes in the region.
Ryan Kasko, CEO of Kasko Cattle Company, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration with Taurus, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between food production and energy generation. The partnership was lauded as a progressive step for southern Alberta agriculture, with government funding helping to de-risk the innovative technology. Daryl Bennett, a surface rights advocate from Taber, Alberta, praised the Taurus facility as a landowner-friendly and environmentally responsible solution for managing manure from feedlots, highlighting the reduction in carbon emissions and the continued benefits of fertilizer production.