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DVO, Inc., Magic Dirt, Green Cow Power win American Biogas Council awards

October 21, 2015, Chilton, WI – DVO, Inc., its partner, Magic Dirt, and customer, Green Cow Power, recently received biogas awards at the American Biogas Council’s (ABC) annual awards program.

ABC recognizes high-achieving companies in the biogas industry serving as an example to others on the scale of innovation, technology collaboration and complexity.

“We are honored that DVO, Green Cow Power and Magic Dirt all received ABC biogas awards this year,” said Steve Dvorak, DVO, Inc. president. “Everything we do at DVO is focused on furthering innovation in sustainability for our customers, the environment and the planet. It’s rewarding to see three of our projects recognized.”

DVO earned its first Innovation of the Year award in the Technical category for its Phosphorus Recovery (PR) system, a fully commercialized and economical treatment step that removes up to 95 percent of the total phosphorus from large-scale farm and commercial waste streams and up to 50 percent of total nitrogen content from manure slurry. By treating these wastes first in DVO’s patented Two-Stage Mixed Plug Flow anaerobic digester and then employing the add-on PR system, farmers conserve valuable minerals and protect natural resources.

Magic Dirt, an organic peat moss replacement that is a direct byproduct of DVO’s anaerobic digestion process, won Innovation of the Year in the Product category. Introduced by Cenergy USA in 2014, Magic Dirt is creating increased awareness among national retailers that anaerobic digester products are profitable and sustainable while appealing to environmentally-conscious consumers and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

ABC awarded Green Cow Power in Goshen, IN, the Agricultural Project of the Year award. The two DVO digesters at Green Cow Power process three semitrailers of manure collected from five local dairies each day, along with food production and biodiesel processing wastes from the surrounding community to power 3.15 MW of installed generation capacity. The digested solids are used as cow bedding and the digested liquids as fertilizer for crops. The project is owned by the Furrer and Martin families. Brian Furrer developed and operates Green Cow Power and also runs Bio Town Ag in Reynolds, IN, which produces 6 MW from manure and various organic waste streams.

The three awards were presented at the Biogas Awards Reception on Oct. 20 during ABC’s Annual Conference, held in conjunction with BioCycle’s REFOR15, in Danvers, MA.