BIOGAS¦
eople who emerge as exceptional business leaders have often come from seemingly unrelated and diverse backgrounds. Thomas Edison, for example, before creating some of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, sold newspapers and candy to passengers riding on the Grand Trunk Railroad, in the late 1800s. During that stint, Edison learned telegraphy, which spurred his interest in electricity and fostered his drive for invention. The biogas industry is no exception to this observation; many hail from diverse backgrounds and life experiences, be it the Peace Corps, an oceanographic institute or a farm in central Minnesota. Those experiences have all, in one way or another, helped the following individuals make notable contributions to the evolving biogas industry. Quasar energy group decided to name its company after an abundant energy source, as “quasar” refers to an extremely distant object with energy output several thousand times that of our galaxy. The company believes quasar is one word that describes the potential of the biomass waste-to-energy industry, which it entered by storm in 2006. A pioneer in bringing European anaerobic digestion technology to the U.S., Quasar Energy President Mel Kurtz’s trek into the sector began while he was working for a company that managed solid waste for the Akron, Ohio, wastewater treatment facility. The company faced chemical, air treatment and utility costs that exceeded $1 million each year, Kurtz says. “In order to gain control of the cost, we started looking for an alternative.” Kurtz’s brother, Tom, took a trip to Switzerland via a recommendation from an Ohio State engineer he knew, and was amazed at the capabilities of an anaerobic digester he visited while there. “Instead of buying energy to burn energy, now we’re going to capture energy and make energy. Long story short, that’s how anaerobic digestion became a staple for the Kurtz family,” Mel Kurtz says. Since then, using an aggregation of best available technologies from more than 30 European providers, quasar energy—previously known as Schmack Biogas—has built over a dozen U.S. digester projects, mostly in Ohio. These facilities utilize a versatile combination of feedstocks—from manure to food waste to biosolids and fats, oils and greases, to produce electricity, heat and compressed natural gas. While the technologies have been sourced from Europe, quasar’s systems run on close to 100 percent U.S.-made components, the majority of which are sourced from within Ohio. Being president of quasar energy involves meeting and managing goals not only for himself, but also for those already involved or becoming involved in the biogas industry. “The industry is so new, there’s a big learning curve for everybody involved, such as regulators, consumers, vendors and customers,” Kurtz says. “Most of the time is spent directing people toward a perspective about this huge opportunity that they didn’t have previously.” One of the bigger goals that quasar and Kurtz are working toward is spreading the word of biogas to potential markets and educating organizations. “The most important thing for the industry is that everything we’re doing with current generation digesters costs less than the alternatives in the marketplace,” Kurtz says. “In other words, it’s less expensive than incineration, chemical treatment and landfills. With the dilemma of the wastewater treatment plant, federal funding has declined 97 percent since 2009, which means rate payers are going to carry the burden on any plant or infrastructure modifications.”
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Amanda Bilek At the Haubenschild dairy farm in Princeton, Minn., Minnesota Project intern Amanda Bilek was introduced to anaerobic digestion while working with a project manager in the spring of 2000. APRIL 2014 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 47